Grenades recovered as ex-soldier is shot dead

Police yesterday shot dead a former Army soldier and found three grenades and three guns loaded with 156 bullets hidden in his bathroom.

Three pairs of military jungle uniforms were found in two Nairobi houses where Geoffrey Odinga Ogunja lived at various times.

He was gunned down at 7am inside one of the houses, at Kasarani estate, by CID detectives from an elite squad based at police headquarters, Nairobi.

Police said the former Army private, based at Kahawa Barracks on Thika highway, was involved in violent robberies in the city.

They said they killed him when he opened fire targeting one of the officers trying to arrest him.

Police commissioner Mohamed Hussein Ali, who visited the scene, accompanied by CID director Joseph Kamau, linked Ogunja to the killing of a Flying Squad operative, Const George Musyoka Muli.

Nairobi provincial police chief King'ori Mwangi and his CID counterpart Sammy Githui were also present.

Gunmen killed Mr Muli on the evening of March 13 as he entered a Pangani shopping centre supermarket to buy a scratch card, unaware there was a robbery in progress.

Maj Gen Ali said that after CID forensic experts analyse Ogunja's fingerprints and the weapons seized from his house, police were likely to linkhim to other crimes. 

CID chief Kamau said two other military men believed to be Ogunja's associates were being sought by the Flying Squad.

In the Kasarani house, the officers found an arsenal of weapons hidden in Ogunja's bathroom upstairs.

They found two AK-47 rifles loaded with 115 bullets, one MP5 sub-machine gun loaded with 23 bullets, one pistol loaded with 23 bullets, two hand grenades, one anti-personnel grenade and a police walkie talkie. There were also three gun magazines and a belt and two pairs of military uniform.

The former soldier lived in the maisonette with his wife and his three-month-old baby.

Police raided another house in the neighbouring Kahawa Wendani estate and seized a pair of military uniform and electronic gadgets.

A woman each was taken away from the houses for questioning.

Just as police killer Daniel Kiptum Cheruiyot, gunned down by Flying Squad officers in neighbouring Zimmerman estate on January 27, Ogunja knew to choose his hideout well in Kasarani.

He shared the same compound with a pastor. But Ogunja's house was far into the interior. From the road, one could only see the pastor's maisonette.

Neighbours said the man was always dropped home by different taxis.

A spokesman for the Department of Defence, Mr Bogita Ongeri, later told the Nation that Ogunja was once a radio technician at the Kahawa Barracks.

"He was transferred to Isiolo but he disappeared a few days after reporting to his new station without official leave," he said by telephone.

The soldier was subsequently sacked last December 2.

Maj-Gen Ali said police would be ruthless with criminals and that nobody would be spared to make the country safer.

One Ogunja employee told the Nation that the former soldier came home with the bag – which the police seized stuffed with the weapons – at around noon on Thursday.

She said: "The bag appeared heavy. He was alone and he went straight to his bedroom upstairs carrying his luggage."

Ogunja's wife, Ms Ann Musewe, said she had been to him since April, last year, but never knew he was a criminal.

"I have always known he works at the Kahawa Barracks. He normally left during the day even in track suits telling me he was going to work," she said.