Police recover arms in a cemetery

By Cyrus Ombati
Police are puzzled by the recovery of more than 300 bullets, a rocket propelled grenade and several other explosives buried at a cemetery in Wajir.
The 327 bullets of different caliber were found buried at the Wajir Cemetery’s Halare Graveyard by police who had been tipped off.
CID director Ndegwa Muhoro said no arrest had been made and added the seizure was a win in the war on terrorism in the country and that they had averted a major attack.
He said the officers also recovered more than ten motorcycle batteries, three improvised explosive devises, more than 20 bomb detonators, ten remote controlled IEDs, seven mobile phones and five wall clocks.
The officers who had to dig more than ten freshly dug graves also recovered a knife, a hammer, wires and other equipment used to connect bombs.
“We believe they were on transit but good tipsters told us of their being there and we acted averting what could have been a deadly attack,” said Muhoro.
The police boss said his officers are still searching the site and others in efforts to establish if there are more of the weapons still being buried there.
The first discovery and seizure was made on Thursday night while the second one occurred Friday morning.
Police said they were tipped off of the presence of the weapons at the cemetery before the raid was staged.
And as the officers were busy exhuming the graves, their colleagues in Lamu said they intercepted a bus heading to Mombasa and recovered two AK-47 rifles and 62 rounds of ammunition before arresting ten suspects.
The recovery of the weapons comes barely a month after the government launched a disarmament exercise in the troubled Tana River County following clashes that left close to 140 people dead.
Police have been put on alert over a possible terror attack following the ouster of Al-Shabaab militants from their Kismayo stronghold by the Kenya Defence Forces and Somalia National Army.
Intelligence reports suggest the militants’ remnants have sneaked several explosives and weapons into the country that they want to use in their attacks.
On September 13, police arrested 26-year-old Omar Abdi Aden, alias Salman Abdi. He was convicted and jailed for 59 years after he was found with four suicide vests, 12 grenades, four IEDs, four AK-47 assault rifles and 480 bullets.
He pleaded guilty after he was charged with being a member of Al-Shabaab and for planning terror attacks in Nairobi. He was charged alongside Mr Abdimajid Yassin Mohammed alias Ali Hussein who denied the charges.
The duo was found in a house in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate and police said they had been planning to blow up churches and assassinate prominent politicians.
Kenya has sent more security personnel to major entry points to the main Somalia borders after the collapse of Kismayo.