By Collins Wanzallah
Two individuals arrested on Thursday evening for allegedly possessing hand grenades along Muthaiga Road, Nairobi, were arraigned in a city court on Friday. The police sought orders to detain them for 14 days to complete their investigations.
According to the police, the suspects, identified as Dancan Otieno and Calvin Odongo, were apprehended in a black Toyota Prado after being trailed from the city center. The vehicle was intercepted along Muthaiga Road while allegedly attempting to gain entry to house number 44, the residence of former presidential aspirant Jimmi Wanjigi.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) filed an application in court stating that the driver of the vehicle, whose identity remains unknown, managed to escape.
“We recovered several items from the vehicle when we arrested the two,” the police stated in their application.
Among the items recovered were four black-colored hand grenades, two pocket phones, seven pocket chargers, three mobile phones, and a national identity card belonging to one Eliah Karangu Waithuku.
The police requested a 14-day detention period, arguing that they needed more time to conclude their investigations since the arrests were made late in the evening.
“We seek 14 days to subject the suspected hand grenades to analysis by bomb disposal experts,” the DCI stated in the court papers.
The police also cited the need to interrogate the suspects further about the explosives’ motive due to the security threat they pose. Additionally, they plan to conduct an identification parade and send the communication gadgets for analysis to the Communications Authority of Kenya to verify whether they are licensed for use within the country.