ATPU takes over Garden City Mall bomb scare case

The device that was recovered from three men at the Garden City Mall, along Thika Superhighway. (Photo: Courtesy)

Nairobi, Kenya: The Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) has taken over a case in which three suspects were arrested at the Garden City Mall while in possession of a harmless device Tuesday evening.

Police said the device was not an improvised explosive device but was “an amateurish collection of phones wires tapped together to look like a bomb”.

Bomb experts arrived at the mall minutes after the discovery and disrupted it using a small charge for safety measures in a controlled explosion.

Witnesses said one of the men refused to be searched by security guards and was overpowered in a scuffle.

The suspects are all Kenyans.

Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet said normalcy resumed at the mall following quick response and there is no cause of alarm.

“The device was not an IED but a device meant to cause panic. We don’t know the motive of the men behind it,” said Boinnet.

A team of bomb disposal unit officials led by its head Eliud Langat arrived and secured the place where guards at the mall had displayed it before destroying it using a controlled explosion.

The ATPU team picked up the three men for questioning to establish the motive of the attempt to sneak in with the device.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said the situation was under control and security was tight in the city. Operations were normal on Wednesday.

The Garden City Mall is one of the newest biggest shopping centres in Nairobi.

Following the Westgate siege, security was stepped up at Nairobi's shopping complexes. Security has been scaled up in other social joints including schools and colleges.

Apart from the Westgate attack in September 2013, terrorists attacked Garissa University College killing 143 students in April 2015.

Al-Shabab has since launched a number of high-profile attacks killing dozens of people.