Police find suspected explosives in Kapseret

The house where police found suspected explosives in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County. [Stephen Rutto/ Standard]

Police in Eldoret were on high alert on Saturday after chemicals believed to be bomb-making materials were recovered from a farmer’s house in Kapseret, Uasin Gishu County.

Police also recovered electronic gadgets, which they believe were to be used to make explosives.

For the better part of the afternoon, the team comprising officers drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and regular police combed the house located about six kilometres off Eldoret Airport. 

The contingent of security personnel, a majority of them in plain clothes, camped in the house for nearly two hours and emerged with items loaded in a bag and small boxes.

Kapseret sub-county police commander Patrick Manyasi said the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ASTU) was acting on intelligence reports. 

Mr Manyasi said the suspect was hosting a Ugandan at the time of the raid. 

He said DCI and ASTU officers would interrogate the suspect further to establish the nature of suspected explosives.

“We will give a comprehensive report as soon as we determine the kind of explosives they are. DCI will continue interrogating the suspects,” he said.

And with the recovery, anti-terror police were optimistic that they could have nipped in the bud the planning of a terror attack in the country.

Bomb-making materials found in the house. [Courtesy]

ATPU said police intelligence had indicated that the materials were ready to be transported to Nairobi.

The two suspects, a 68-year-old Ugandan and a 59-year-old Kenyan farmer from Chepkatet village, are in police custody.

There were plans to move them to Nairobi for questioning by anti-terror police.

The materials found in the house included two boxes of TNT chemical, each weighing two kilogrammes, and 44 pieces of what was labelled as noble explosives.