Hunt on for dealers in home-made guns

Police are looking for blacksmiths who have been making and selling guns to criminals in Nairobi and neighbouring towns.

There were gangs in Kariobangi, Kibera and Dandora slums that supply the home-made guns, Nairobi County Police Commander Benson Kibui acknowledged Tuesday.

“We are still trying to locate these groups who live deep inside the slums,” said Mr Kibui.

HIRED INFORMERS

Police suspect that the blacksmiths have hired informers based in different corners of the slums, who keep watch on police movements.

“We are relying on the public to give us information about these gangs. We are also seeking the services of our intelligence officers,” he said.

Mr Kibui said a different group, which operated in the slums too, hired out guns to boys as young as 16, to commit robberies and carjackings in the city.

The police boss made the disclosure as armed crime increased in Nairobi, especially in the upmarket estates.

On Sunday night, Nairobi Chapel’s pastor Oscar Muriu was carjacked at the gate of the church on Ngong Road.

Pastor Muriu was leaving the church in the company of his wife Beatrice, who is also a pastor at the church, when three armed men accosted them and drove them to Karen.

“They robbed them of two mobile phones, credit cards and Sh7,000 before abandoning them in an open field,” Mr Kibui said. The couple was not injured.

Mr Kibui said police would not relent in the fight against criminals, and would protect people and property.