By VINCENT MABATUK

A former civic leader is being held at Nakuru Central police station for alleged piracy.

Plain clothed police officers and officials from the anti-piracy unit arrested Joel Gitimu Wanderi in his house at Freehold Estate after several days of trailing him.

According to the police, the suspect has for years been copying and distributing copies of books for which the authors or copyright-holding record companies did not give consent.

Detectives recovered several copies of secondary school set books analysed, recorded and saved in DVDs with seals suggesting they have been approved by the authors.

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education 2012 marking schemes for different subjects were also recovered in the two bedroomed house in an operation that lasted for several hours. Heavy duty printers, DVD burners which Gitimu told the police officers were used in the production of the copies of DVDs at night were also impounded.

The River and The Source by Dr Margaret A Ogola, Kidagaa Kimemwozea by Ken Walibora were among the pirated books already supplied into the market. Others were poetry, theatre books and anthology of poems for secondary schools.

Copies of the Bible were also recovered in the room alongside a seal he had been using in the business.

The suspect who was alone in the house during the operation told the police and the media that he did not know he was breaking any law even after being informed of the same.

“These authors are either dead or cannot be reached easily and we rely on directions and authority from publishers,” alleged the suspect.

However, the former councillor was not in a position to produce any authorisation letter from the said publishers.

Prominent schools

To catch the eye of potential buyers, the suspect used names of prominent schools in the area and those that have topped in national exams on the front cover of the DVDs.

Police say the analysed books are later distributed to bookshops in Nakuru and vendors along the streets retailing at between Sh800 and Sh1,000 per copy.

Confirming the arrest, Nakuru police boss Bernard Kioko said the suspect will appear before a court after the investigations are complete.

It seemed that while the officers were ransacking his house, calls from bookshops were made to his phone. “Wait, in a meeting will call you after this,” answered the suspect before the police confiscated the phone.

Michael Murefu from the antipiracy society said the former leader was operating another shop at Bondeni area.