Foreigner arrested for smuggling six rifles and ammunition

Police confiscated six rifles and arrested a man who had smuggled them into the country from Somalia.

The Somali national, who was arrested in Mandera on Monday, had concealed the G-3 rifles in sacks stuffed with firewood.

He was using a donkey-drawn cart to transport them.

A machinegun barrel and 16 rounds of ammunition were also found in the cart.

Initial investigations showed the man avoided the Elwak border point and used an undesignated route to enter Kenya.

The more than 1,000-kilometre Kenya-Somalia border is porous and the neighbouring country is the main source of illegal arms in Kenya.

A survey in June showed there are between 530,000 and 680,000 illegal firearms in Kenya, and the demand is rising.

Besides firearms, grenades have been smuggled into Kenya and used to carry out attacks by members of the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group in parts of the country.

On Sunday, police recovered three shotguns and 638 rounds of ammunition after killing three suspected gangsters in Nairobi’s Kabiria area.

Separately, 110 Somali nationals rounded up by police in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate were expected to be charged on Monday.

City police boss Moses Ombati said they would be charged with being in Kenya illegally.

“We shall also ask the court to give orders for them to be deported to Somalia after they have paid fines or served prison sentences. We cannot allow these people to sneak back into the city,” Mr Ombati said.

A major operation to arrest foreigners who are in the country illegally was carried out in Eastleigh last week after recent grenade attacks in the estate on three separate occasions.

Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan was admitted in hospital with fractured legs in a grenade attack outside a mosque in the estate on Friday.

More than 300 illegal immigrants were arrested during the crackdown.