NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 3 — Detectives have recovered two police firearms reportedly stolen from a General Service Unit (GSU) camp in Kopsiro, Bungoma County on August 23.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said that police have since apprehended the prime suspect linked to the incident.
According to the DCI, the G3 rifles, one of which was loaded with 20 rounds of 7.62mm caliber ammunition ,disappeared mysteriously from Korngotuny GSU camp, prompting an operation led by sleuths from the elite Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau to recover them.
Detectives have identified the suspect as a former GSU officer who was on suspension on disciplinary grounds.
“After conducting comprehensive investigations and analysis, the detectives identified the main suspect behind the disappearance, one Isaac Wanzala, a former GSU officer currently suspended from the service on disciplinary grounds,” DCI stated.
DCI said the suspect is believed to have sneaked into Korngotuny GSU camp on the night the firearms disappeared and left with them undetected.
In an effort to apprehend the suspect, a raid was conducted at his residence at dawn on a Sunday where he reportedly attempted to evade arrest by fleeing into a nearby sugarcane plantation.
“But the officers who were determined to arrest him mounted a spirited search that lasted for hours in the vast field of sugarcane and finally smoked him out,” the DCI said.
Upon his arrest, detectives say the suspect led the officers to the banks of River Sio, where the firearms were recovered buried on the ground.
The suspect is currently in custody pending arraignment in court.
