Questions raised on JKIA security as Kimaiyo ‘eats humble pie’

Travellers and airport officials at JKIA. INSET: The car that was used by suspected terrorists last week. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

By Cyrus Ombati

Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo has now been forced to eat humble pie after he changed his earlier theory that a blast at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport last week had been caused by a loose bulb and some burning papers.

The new development now raises questions on the security situation at the international airport and how the suspected terrorists managed to gain entry into the premises with the explosives undetected.

This week, the police boss said the prime suspect in the blast saga was in police custody raising questions why he had been quick to dismiss the blast even before investigations were carried out.

Mr Kimaiyo says the suspect was arrested after days of investigations into the attack caused by an improvised explosive devise (IED) on January 16.

“We are no longer looking for that person, we already have him in custody,” said Kimaiyo.

When the blast took place at the busy airport, the police boss tweeted that a loose bulb had fallen into a dustbin at Nairobi Java House restaurant within the airport and igniting papers.

Car with explosives

The theory was, however, dismissed by investigators who had gone to the scene with all indications of a terror attack being confirmed by the fact that there was shooting at the airport exit by police who fired at a vehicle that had refused to stop at the barrier.

The same vehicle was then found near Shauri Moyo estate in the city with explosives.

Police had initially arrested and questioned ten people on the attack before zeroing in on one. The blast caused a slight damage on the roof of the Nairobi Java House.

This came as details emerged how a gang of about six planned the attack making three IEDs in their house in Ushirka estate near Eastleigh, Nairobi.

The men hired a saloon car from a motorist in Eastleigh to use it in the mission that according to police may have gone bad.

The car had been hired to the suspects for almost a week and they visited the airport for a surveillance mission on January 11 and 15 before they finally struck on January 16.

“Our investigations show they wanted to get into the airport but were unable, forcing them to leave the explosives in a dustbin near the entrance of Java,” said a senior officer privy to details of the probe, but who asked not to be named.

The owner of the car that was found abandoned in Shauri Moyo area hours after the blast, told police a broker had approached him, saying he wanted his friend to hire the car at Sh3,000 a day for a week.

The gang first surveyed the airport and the day of the incident, they drove into the there at about 10pm.

A review of CCTV cameras there shows them arriving at the Java restaurant where they stood for a while outside while conversing before they walked in and sat near the entrance.

One of the three men, the driver, went back to the car and came back with a black piece of luggage that he put in the dustbin before he joined the others.

An unarmed Kenya Airports Authority security official is then seen hovering around the three men who had then asked for a menu. The presence of the KAA official seemed to unsettle the men because their orders were not even taken at the end of it all.

Dead colleague

It was as the official walked away that the blast went off. The three men ran into their car. Then there was a stampede as other customers ran out and other people dashed to safety.

The curiosity of the KAA official came from an earlier warning that had been issued to the airport security officials to increase their security and surveillance after it emerged terrorists targeted the area.

Also warned were owners of a landmark building in Highridge. 

Investigations show the men arrived at the JKIA entrance and realised they had used a wrong gate before the driver made a U-turn.

Police at the gate noticed the commotion and tried to approach the car, but the driver drove on, forcing his way out behind another car that had been allowed to leave.

It was then that the officer opened fire. His seniors who initially reprimanded him for the shooting incident said he concentrated on the tyres while chasing the car on foot.

“He intended to deflate the tyres to enable them arrest the occupants but they drove off,” said another officer, who also asked not to be named.

The officer had by then shot and fatally wounded one of the three occupants in the car.

They drove to Shauri Moyo shopping centre, where one of them called a motorbike rider to pick them. They abandoned the body of their colleague in the car.

It was after almost two hours later that residents alerted police of a car with torn tyres and open doors. On arrival, police found the body with bullet wounds and an unexploded IED. The IED was later detonated.

30 terrorists killed

The officers say they found more than 20 samples that connect the suspects to the attack at the airport.

A Java cup wrapper was also found inside the car in Shauri Moyo.

It was then that the officers traced the owner of the car, the motorbike rider and the house where they lived. None of the six occupants who were in the house had turned up there for three days but they were traced to Majengo slums in the area.

Kimaiyo said they are still investigating the incident and urged for patience from the public.

Security officials had been on alert following reports of a terror attack in the wake of the start of the trial of four men accused of being behind the Westgate attack last September and the airstrike by Kenyan troops in Somalia that killed more than 30 terrorists two weeks ago.

But investigations have yet to reveal if the JKIA attackers are part of the Al-Shabaab group.