Alarming details on how criminals hone their shooting skills

A police officer display a home made gun which was impounded from three suspects traveling from Nakuru-Nairobi PHOTO:BONIFACE THUKU

Folklore has it that hardcore legendary criminal Bernard Matheri Thuo, alias Rasta, honed his shooting skills by using clucking chicken in his Kiria-ini village of Murang’a for target practice.

His marksmanship was evident in the number of people he fell during his criminal escapades in daring moves that challenged the police, including those attached to elite units like the Flying Squad and the General Service Unit’s Recce Company.

About 17 years later, his gangland legacy still lives on, with stories being retold and rewritten about how he and his accomplices - Antony Ngugi Kanagi aka Wacucu and Gerald Wambugu Munyeri alias Wanugu - held the country at ransom,  and pushing the police to put a Sh100,000 bounty on their heads.

The three are said to have occasionally practiced shooting at the then largely unoccupied expansive land in Mihango within Embakasi before settling for drinks and goat ribs at their favourite bar in Kayole One.

Things have greatly changed today making it hard to engage in brazen and illegal shooting practice.

So how do criminals learn how to handle guns in Nairobi? This is a puzzle The Nairobian has been trying to unravel.

Smart criminals are said to be utilising licenced facilities to improve their shooting skills. Apparently, according to a reliable source, these crooks are in possession of forged gun ownership certificates that allow them access to registered shooting ranges, mainly in Nairobi, Ruiru and Magadi. The documents are allegedly obtained from unscrupulous gun dealers at a fee.

Other thugs, especially the newbies, are said to reach out to retired police officers or hardcore criminals for basic training at a fee.

“The problem can be attributed to sacked officers who end up joining criminal gangs. As a matter of fact, every major crime in the country tend to involve an ex-officer operating in the background,” said a former policeman who was fired from the force.

Two senior officers said training is usually done in well-secured homes fitted with improvised sound-proofing materials consisting of sandbags.

One of the officers said that though they had previously received tips about illegal shooting practice in Dandora, Jericho, Lumumba and Athi River, it has been impossible to identify specific hideouts.

He claimed that those who facilitate training have infiltrated the National Police Service and corrupted some officers in exchange for vital information.

“For instance, they are able to get information on pending raids. There was a case once in which officers raided one such shooting location in Jericho, only to find the owner of the premises had fled long before the arrival of the police. The house was locked and the cops could not break in since it is against the law to do so without a warrant,” a senior Administration Police officer revealed.

“Training does not really take long. All it takes is but a few minutes since these people are not training to be marksmen. The criminals just want to know how to load the guns and pull the trigger. They are least bothered about other details,” disclosed an Officer Commanding Police Division.

Head of Flying Squad, Nyale Muga, revealed that Lukenya was one of the preferred shooting practice locations according to confessions of a suspect.

“Those who want to be marksmen practice in open fields like in Lukenya. One of the suspects we arrested confessed that they mainly practiced in Lukenya,” added Nyale.

The officer said criminals are less concerned about training, but thrive in the bravado that accompanies the possession of a firearm whose intention is normally to instill maximum fear.

Learning gun handling and usage is therefore done in homes where brief tips are offered even without firing, according to the senior officer.

“The sound alone without a bullet is enough for criminals to accomplish their mission. They are not interested in becoming marksmen, but just want to know few basics about the gun,” added Nyale.

The officer in charge of the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) Noah Katumo, gave a similar version, saying training in the open is only possible in remote areas where the level of surveillance is low.

“Criminals mainly train indoors, where they are taken through the process of handling and using guns without necessarily having to fire even a single shot. It is why some of them just aim pointlessly at their targets during robberies,” revealed Katumo.

Nairobi County Police Deputy Commander, Moses Ombati, disclosed that they dismantled a training ring in Mukuru Kayaba and Mukuru kwa Njenga slums mid this year. He however points out that the criminals do not need a lot of time or space to practise shooting.

His officers reportedly stormed a shack in the slums following a tip off and shot dead three criminals who were being taught how to use a gun. Two men managed to escape during the incident.

“Since then, it appears there has been a lull. The criminals mostly train in houses and it is not really an intensive process,” explained the police boss.

Still, access to illegal firearms needs to be addressed. Some neighbourhoods in the city are known and perceived to be hubs of weapons smuggled in by both big and small time dealers.

On the proliferation of illegal guns, Ombati said that a government amnesty yielded little success since few guns were returned. The weapons returned were in poor condition and the criminals could have probably just taken advantage of the amnesty, but withheld those in working condition, since Nairobi Senator Miki Sonko had offered a Sh50,000 cash reward for every gun that was surrendered.

Ombati believes there are many dangerous weapons that are still in the hands of criminals. He says that the situation is compounded by homemade guns which are just as deadly.