Police in Thika detain a man, recover 90 bullets and seven pistol magazines from him at a roadblock

Police in Thika Town have arrested a motorist and recovered 90 bullets and seven magazines from him.

The motorist, identified as Ibrahim Muriuki, was flagged down at a roadblock for a normal check when the bullets were discovered Saturday, police said. He was alone at the time of the arrest.

Police say the bullets and magazines belong to a Ceska pistol. The suspect is said to have told the officers who arrested him the bullets belong to a licensed gun holder based in Mombasa but police are puzzled about why he had them.

The officers holding the man are still investigating the motive behind the possession of the bullets.

“We are yet to know why he had them because he is not licensed. In this era of terrorism, we do not want to take chances,” said a senior officer who asked not to be named.

The officer added that they are looking for the said owner of the bullets for grilling amid claims some officers there wanted the incident covered up.

The recovery came days after police recovered 421 rounds of ammunition from a luggage abandoned at a matatu terminus in Runyenjes, Embu County. No arrest has been made so far.

The bullets are believed to have been on transit from Runyenjes to Nairobi when the dealer abandoned them there. It is believed the ammunition of an AK47 rifle was to be used at an undisclosed mission.

In Garissa, police denied reports they had recovered dozens of bullets. Area commander Shadrack Maithya said they anticipated transportation of bullets from Dadaab through Madogo to Garissa but they did not find any.

Instead, they arrested a wanted gun runner from a bus that they had been waiting for.

“We searched for the bullets and weapons that we thought were in the bus in vain. We however caught one of the three wanted gun runners on that route and he is under interrogation,” said Maithya.

He added they have intensified police operations on major routes in the area to tame such criminal activities.

Usually, such bullets are the ones that are used to commit crimes in other urban areas in the country.