Three grenades, a firearm, rounds of ammunition, a sniper ghillie suit (camouflage) among other military gear have been recovered in a sting operation implicating a suspect who personated a KDF Captain to evade alcoblow tests at Museum Hill, Nairobi.
In the case that has so far set three suspects into police lock up, Koffi Bill Atinda alias Don was arrested Wednesday May 15, 2024 at the said roadblock after obstructing traffic police officers while on official duty by refusing to roll down his car windows for the test like all other motorists.
The furious suspect had instead stepped out of the car and identified himself as a KDF captain, pointing at a KDF sticker displayed on the windscreen of his black Toyota Prado TX Reg No.KDL 100G.
Unable to formally identify himself with the requisite certificate of appointment nor convince the officers why he should not be given the same treatment as all the other motorists, the suspect sought the intervention of a serving military captain but who distanced himself from the suspect when things heated up.
A call to Department of Defense (DoD) offices confirmed that the suspect was not serving in the military, prompting his immediate arrest and arraignment at Milimani Law Courts yesterday for traffic-related offenses.
Meanwhile, anti-robbery police who got information on the release of the suspect after clearing with the court on the traffic charges ambushed him at Nairobi Area Traffic HQs where he had gone to collect his detained vehicle in company of his alleged driver, Kennedy Otieno Omwanda.
The two were briefly interrogated before their case was handed over to the Director Operations, who dispatched the Operation Support Unit to dig deeper into the dealings of the suspected money laundering duo.
After a search in the 1st suspect’s vehicle, Omwanda was equally arrested following the recovery of 15 fake USD notes in 100 denomination, a police pocket phone, a siren fitted in the vehicle, expired Ugandan car insurance, 7 sim card holders, two stamps from different companies among others.
Further search in Don’s (1st suspect) residence located along Hilltop Road in Ngong saw the seizure of military camouflage jungle fatigues and more company documents. Several of his social media posts were also found to contain photos of him holding firearms that are yet to be recovered.
Further interrogation on Omwanda revealed a third suspect, Kennedy Otieno Odhiambo, in whose house located at Jimly Apartment in Jamhuri Estate were discovered three hand grenades, a Sauer P229 pistol, 12 rounds of ammunition and a firearm certificate whose authentication is underway.
The third suspect alleged to have received the grenades from a Kenya Prisons officer based at the Ruiru Prison Headquarters “for safe custody”. Investigations have been instigated to establish whether the mentioned person is indeed an officer working with the Kenya Prison Service.
Investigations are still ongoing with a view to recover a long barreled rifle believed to have been sighted by a planted informer in the hands of the first suspect, and to arrest more members of the suspected ring.
