Police arrest suspect linked to loss of firearm, ammunition

A pistol with 12 rounds of ammunition was recovered from the suspect. [iStockphoto]

Kitale police arrested a suspect who eluded a dragnet last week, where two of their accomplices were apprehended and a firearm and several ammunitions were recovered.

Officers acting on a tip apprehended three suspects on a motorbike suspected of committing a felony in Kitale town along the Aturukan junction-Showground road.

However, one of the suspects, who was later apprehended and confirmed to be the main suspect, eluded the police dragnet and remained at large until Friday, when he was apprehended at his hideout in the Tuwan area.

The other two, Ruth Waithera Kamau and Josephat Gathuki, were found with an unlicensed pistol, rounds of ammunition, and mobile phones, and were charged with consorting with a person in possession of an unlicensed weapon.

Waithera, 29, and Gathuki, 26, were charged in a Kitale Magistrate court and released on Sh300,000 bond with a similar surety pending the case's mention on March 1.

Confirming the incident, CCIO Francis Kihara said the main suspect, 26-year-old Sammy Karanja, will be arraigned in court today (Monday) to answer charges of possessing an unlicensed weapon, among other related charges.

A search of the suspect's bag revealed a Jericho pistol with serial number KE KP 44330865, loaded with a magazine of 12 rounds of 9mm ammunition, two mobile phones, and eight sim cards.

The gun was later determined to have been obtained from a senior Narok police officer, but the circumstances surrounding its disappearance remain unknown.

On February 10, police officer Fredrick Kinabei was arrested for misplacing his Jericho pistol, serial number matching, and 14 rounds of ammunition.

The officer was charged with negligently losing a firearm.