Police raise alarm as gang issues fake firearm licences

Unscrupulous officers, who infiltrated the police firearms registry are helping people buy guns and ammunition. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Andrew Laird White and his wife, Joy Akoth Mboya, are under scrutiny at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations after they were found with unregistered guns.
  • Mr White was previously in the news after he alleged that former assistant minister Betty Tett had hired a hit man to kill him. Mrs Tett was later cleared of the charges.

A criminal ring has been issuing firearm licences to civilians outside the official government security system.

Unscrupulous officers, who infiltrated the police firearms registry, are helping people buy guns and ammunition.

Sources said civilian gun licence holders who fell victim to the syndicate were shocked when they presented their licences for annual renewal only to have their firearms and certificates confiscated.

The source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told the Nation that gun holders had been renewing their licences every year without problems until the syndicate was unearthed late last year.

A foreign investor and his Kenyan wife are now under investigation for possessing illegal guns.

Mr Andrew Laird White and his wife, Joy Akoth Mboya, are under scrutiny at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations after they were found with unregistered guns.

Yet, they had walked to the Central Firearms Bureau's Nairobi headquarters to renew their licences but their weapons, Taurus pistols serial numbers THU02119 and THY88863, were confiscated.

They had certificate numbers 9718 and 9716, but they were informed that the numbers belonged to a Mr G. Nyamaku and M. Talaal, respectively.

They presented their documents for renewal on November 10, last year. The licences were due to expire on November 25.

SURRENDER YOUR GUN

Chief licensing officer Samuel Kimaru established that they did not exist in the registry.

“It was further noted that the registered owners of the serial numbers 9716 and 9718 were for Mr G. Nyamaku and Mr M. Talaal who had actually registered the firearms two months before the accused persons registered for the same,” says a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

When the discovery was made, Mr Kimaru ordered that the firearms be confiscated.

The two were taken to the county criminal investigations officer, who in turn gave orders that they be charged with illegal possession of firearms.

The certificates are now being analysed by the Government Printers, who revealed that the book was not genuine and the receipts for the renewal were fake.

Mr White was previously in the news after he alleged that former assistant minister Betty Tett had hired a hit man to kill him. Mrs Tett was later cleared of the charges.

On Thursday, Mr Kimaru added: “We want to warn anybody with such a certificate to surrender them. There are quacks out there pretending to be licensing and we are cracking down on them. Having [an illegal] semi-automatic weapon will land you up to 10 years [in jail]. A full automatic [draws] up to [a] 15 year sentence.”