Senior AP held over weapons probe

The chief armourer of the Administration Police has been arrested and is being questioned in connection with illegal weapons seized from a house in Narok Town.

Superintendent Joseph Maritim was taken into custody on Tuesday night and is being interviewed at Kileleshwa Police Station, detectives informed the Nation on Wednesday.

Police seized 100,000 bullets and a shocking arsenal of military kit from the house they said belongs to businessman Ishmael Ahmed Munir. Mr Munir is licensed to own a pistol and a shotgun. But the police said he was not a licensed arms dealer. Detectives on Wednesday claimed that only a small fraction of the bullets seized were legally obtained.

They said they are investigating the theory that a senior security officer and a foreign military base were connected to the illegal military equipment.

One of the leads being followed is that the officer, based at the AP Training College, facilitated the smuggling of bullets out of the institution.

Detectives said they suspected that the bulk of the bullets came from the AP armoury and the foreign military base in Northern Kenya.

Mr Munir was taken into custody on Monday and is still being questioned.

Detectives also said they were looking for a man they say was the conduit between illegal gunrunners and soldiers at the foreign base.

Court permission

On Wednesday, investigators sought court permission to hold Mr Munir longer than the 48 hours allowed by law. Mr Munir was arrested together with his wife, Nahidtabassum Sumar, in Embakasi, Nairobi. Four of his Land-Rovers were also seized.

Investigators claimed the vehicles were previously GK vehicles assigned to the Administration Police.

When the couple was arrested, they were driving a Land-Rover Caravan, thought to be one of the former government vehicles. It is perfectly legal to own an ex-GK vehicle.

Detectives said they wanted to confirm that the couple followed the right procedure in obtaining them.

Mr Munir is a wealthy man, police say. They claim he bought a Sh30 million house in Spring Valley, Nairobi, in October and owns apartments in Westlands. Police said they also found Sh10 million in his account. Police now want to establish if the property is part of proceeds from the illegal sale of arms. The detectives said they were puzzled by a large withdrawal, in the millions, from an account in a city bank which they had wanted frozen.

They suspected that a large consignment of arms was sold in October, though they would not provide more details.

An investigator also said that boxes containing tens of thousands of bullets were being removed from the AP armoury weekly, raising questions whether the ammo was being legitimately used.

The investigation is also seeking to establish if the boxes with the Kenya Ordinance Factory Corporation, run by the Kenya Army, and found in the cache, was an indication that ammunition was being smuggled out of the factory.

The plant manufactures bullets for local use by security forces and also for export.

Detectives claimed Mr Munir had led them to a godown on Enterprise Road, Nairobi, where they found goods they suspect were stolen. At the time of arrest, Mr Munir was armed but his weapon was licensed.

“The firearms certificate he has did not allow him to have such a large amount of ammunition,” an investigator said.

Mr Munir’s lawyer, Mr Cliff Ombeta, accused the police of framing his client. Why, he asked, did they not display the cache of arms at the Narok home of his client but took it all the way to CID headquarters in Nairobi?

“My client is being set up. He is licenced to own a firearm and some of the goods including spare parts, tyres and lubricants belong to him but the ammunition and military goods do not belong to him,” the lawyer said.

The police operation was conducted by Special Crime Prevention Unit led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Richard Katola. The team included APs.

The recovered items included 100,000 rounds of ammunition of different calibre clearly marked as having been manufactured by the Kenya Army bullet factory in Eldoret and Ministry of Defence (British Army). Two pistols and four rifles, including a sniper rifle, were also seized.

Also recovered were machetes, military backpacks, shooting range ear plugs, military sleeping bags, foldable camping beds, solar batteries, heavy duty vehicle batteries, 70 water containers, tyres, solar camp showers, boots and knives.