Police detain mobile phone dealer found with ‘expensive’ phones in Gilgil

By Antony Gitonga                                  

GILGIL, KENYA: Police in Gilgil have recovered electronics which are suspected to have been looted from Westgate mall at the height of the terrorists attack.

Police confirmed the recovery of seven high-tech mobile phones but were cagey on whether they were part of goods looted from the mall.

The police are however holding a mobile phone dealer who was found in possession of the ‘expensive’ phones.

Incidentally Gilgil town is home to hundreds of soldiers from different units some of whom were involved in the rescue operations.

Gilgil OCPD Serah Koki confirmed the recovery of seven mobile phones saying that they were investigating their source.

Koki said that the dealer had been taken to Naivasha for more interrogation on how he came into possession of the mobile phones.

She denied allegations that two soldiers had been arrested adding that the dealer was claiming that he could not remember who left behind the phones.

“The suspect says that two men left behind some phones for repair but he does not remember their faces and did not take their details,” she said.

On his part, Naivasha DCIO Martin Mbaya confirmed the arrest of the mobile phone dealer adding that investigations were going on.

“We have one suspect in custody and we are investigating the source of the phones before taking further action,” he said.

According to an impeccable source, two men suspected to be soldiers approached the dealer seeking to sell some phones and laptops over the weekend.

“The men who are said to be soldiers wanted some of the phones unlocked and the others sold by the dealer,” said the source.

A relative to the suspect said that he was innocent and wondered why the two suspects who were selling the phones were never arrested.

“The dealer informed the police and we are wondering why he is now the villain after passing the message,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Traders from Westgate have cried foul after their wares were looted as the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers went for the terrorists holed up in the building.

KDF has vehemently denied that its soldiers were involved in the looting as the President moved in to form a commission to investigate the terror attack.