Police seize grenades and guns in Nairobi raid
Police on Tuesday evening found 13 grenades during a security raid on a house in Nairobi’s Kayole Estate.
The owner of the house was arrested as the search further yielded an AK-47 assault rifle, four revolvers and a sub-machine gun. The man was seized from a four-storey building
According to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, the man was arrested ‘‘elsewhere before he directed the Criminal Intelligence officers to his single room on the third floor of the building.
“Upon search, we were able to recover quite a number of assorted arms and explosives. We have the person in our custody and I think during investigation, we will find more links,” he said.
Neighbours said the man, who lived alone, had moved in only a month ago. “We have never seen any other person in there, but he talks to us freely,” a neighbour on the second floor said.
His house had no furniture save for a small mattress of about four inches thick and a folded prayer mat.
Police confirmed he was a Kenyan Muslim of middle age, but could not tell his occupation.
The security officials did not allow journalists to take photos of his face as they rolled a black hood over his face.
He was in a red jumper, black pants and brown sandals. He was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall.
By the time of going to press, officers from the Recce group and the Criminal Intelligence Unit were still combing the area, seeking more clues.
The police did not immediately reveal where they would take the suspect.
The evening raid was carried out by a team of regular and anti-terrorism police officers in the wake of grenade explosions in Nairobi in which a man was killed and 25 others injured on Monday. (READ: One dead, 13 injured in second city blast)
At the same time, police have identified the man who was killed during the grenade explosion at a crowded matatu terminus.
Officers told the Nation that the man was arrested in 2007 at the Coast on a robbery with violence charge.
“The victim is a Kenyan. We are tracing his last moments. At the moment, we cannot say whether he was the villain or the victim,” Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told the Nation.
A source at the City Mortuary, where the body was taken, said no relatives had turned.
The first grenade attack occurred at Mwaura’s Bar on Mfangano Lane at 1am. A man lobbed the explosive into the drinking joint.
The second exploded minutes before 8pm at a crowded matatu terminus on Race Course Road, near the OTC bus stage.
The arms seizure and arrest came just hours after a meeting of senior police officers to map out fresh strategies in carrying out surveillance in Nairobi.
