Mombasa, Kenya: Mombasa Court has ordered the arrest of a police chief over the disappearance of nine vehicles that were key exhibits in an ongoing case.
Mombasa Principal Magistrate Justus Kituku issued a warrant of arrest against former Makupa OCS Peter Mbua, now in Matuu, for failing to appear in court to explain why he allegedly failed to deploy police officers to Fuji Motors to guard the exhibits.
Mr Kituku ordered Mr Mbua to be brought before him on January 30 "to show cause why he should not be prosecuted". The vehicles were exhibits in the trial of six people charged with trafficking ivory worth Sh44 million.
The exhibits allegedly disappeared from a yard in Tudor estate, Mombasa County, in December last year when a bailiff and police raided the premises to evict the suspects who had rented it.
The raid, according to the State, was done on the basis of a civil order issued by the High Court to evict the tenants (suspects) for non-payment of rent. At the time, the tenants faced criminal charges in the magistrate's court.
The State says the civil court order did not require police to enforce the eviction order. The criminal case began in June last year.
Mbua, who left Makupa in November last year, is also wanted to explain why he allegedly failed to inform Makupa OCS David Muli that the vehicles in the yard were part of the exhibits in the criminal case.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alex Muteti had earlier successfully applied for the court to summon Mr Muli to show cause why he should not be prosecuted for allegedly removing nine vehicles that were part of the exhibits in which 314 elephant tusks were found.
It was not clear why Mbua did not appear in court yesterday.
"The court order was brought to me by a court bailiff. I read it and understood the contents. I later sent the officers to the site, which I also visited," said Muli.
Those accused of trafficking the ivory are Abdul Hali Sadique Omar, Ghalib Sadique Kara, Pravers Noor Mohamed, Abdul Majeed Ibrahim, Fuji Motors East Africa and Feisal Mohamed Ali.
They denied that on June 5 last year, at Fuji Motors East Africa in Mombasa, they were found with 314 elephant tusks weighing 2,152kg. The accused are represented by a team of lawyers led by Cliff Ombeta and Michael Oloo.
Earlier, the magistrate rejected an application from the landlord of Fuji Motors, Fatuma Gulamhussein, who wanted the proceedings against Muli stopped until January 30 to give her
lawyer, Japhet Asige, time to go through the proceedings before responding to what transpired during the eviction.
The hearing continues today.
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