A former American police officer, a retired General Service Unit (GSU) officer and a Mandera resident have been arraigned at a court in Kirinyaga County after they were allegedly caught with 27 imitations of an AK47 rifle.
Stauart Donaldson, 67, Jesse Kinyua from Nyeri and Aden Abdilahi both aged 36 denied the charge yesterday when they appeared before Baricho Principal Magistrate Evans Keago.
They were remanded in custody pending further investigations by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.
No biography of Abdulahi was available though it was reported that investigating officers had already been dispatched to Mandera County to ascertain if indeed this was his home.
Donaldson, Kinyua and Abdilahi were charged that on June 6 at the Wilderness Camp, Sagana while in contravention of the fire-arms Act were found with 27 imitations of the AK47 rifle.
The accused, who denied the charges, were represented by a Nairobi lawyer Robert Onyango who urged the court to release them on bond as the offence was bailable.
The prosecution team led by Chief Inspector Rose Roneya and Irene Magolo opposed the bail application citing incomplete verification of some of the items the accused were also allegedly found in possession of.
Prosecutors asked the court to remand them at the Sagana police station pending the arrival of the Anti-Terrorist Police Personnel from Nairobi to inspect a communication gadget and other items and ascertain their use.
“Once the verification and examinations are carried out and turn out to be what we are suspecting, then we are likely to charge the accused with more criminal offences,” Roneya told the court.
The court consequently remanded them until Friday when their case will come up for a mention.
Meanwhile, it has emerged the suspects were to launch an NGO safety training at the camp from Monday to Friday at the camp.
The suspects were reported to be operating under the name, NGO Safety Programme, an NGO which was registered in the country in 2012, according to detectives privy to the case.
The training would have concentrated on theory and the practical aspect hence the location of the camp and the suspects are said to have started a similar training at Dadaab, Sudan and Somalia.
About 45 participants were expected to start the training on Sunday, according to unconfirmed reports before the three were arrested.
The Wilderness Camp is normally used for kayaking, canoeing and boating and has in the past hosted international water sport events.
In 2008, the camp was the venue for the international kayaking and canoeing competition and attracted participants from as a far as Iraq, South Africa, Pakistan, among other nations.
It is also connected to the rest of the country by the busy Sagana-Nairobi highway through a marram feeder road-about a kilometre-and has its own micro-hydroelectric power source.
The camp is also located on the boundary of Kirinyaga and Murang'a counties.
