Nairobi Magistrate Court has detained the officer in charge of firearms Kiambu Divisional Headquarters Sergeant Gabriel Rotich for four days to allow police complete investigations.
Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Oduor Ooko allowed police application saying it has merits.
“I have gone through this application and affidavit and i find it has merits and I hereby direct the police to detain the accused for four days starting today and produce him in court on Friday” ruled Ooko.
This is after detectives applied to detain the suspect through a miscellaneous application seeking to be allowed to detain the suspect for seven days to complete investigations.
They said on 19 this month , police officers from Special Crime Prevention Unit acting on information confronted a gang and a shoot out ensued where two armed robbers Maina Ngugi and Josphat Maina Kinya were shoot dead and two firearms recovered.
One of the firearms recovered belonged to Kiambu CID divisional headquarters and another to Catrani Alberto an Italian national based in Malindi. Both firearms were stolen on the day last year October.
Sergeant Rotich was in charge of division armory when the lost firearms was issued. The recovery of the firearms prompted an extensive and comprehensive audit of the persons issued to Kiambu CID Divisional Headquarters.
The affidavit further discloses that, after discovery of the two firearms , the suspect went missing with armory keys where the firearms and ammunition are stored.
The disappearance of Sergeant Rotich prompted the officer Commanding Kiambu Divisional Headquarters and officer from Special Crime Prevention Unit to break into the armory to conduct audit.
The audit revealed that the suspect has been issuing firearms held as exhibits for cases pending before court which were held at Kiambu DCI Headquarters to officers on duty contrary to police regulations.
The said firearms are suspected to have committed robbery with violence offences.
The officer was charged on Friday with unlawful disposal of government firearms.
Milimani chief magistrate Francis Andayi granted him release on a cash bail of Sh400,000 pending the hearing on March 1.
Senior Sergeant Gabriel Rotich, 56, yesterday presented himself to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers Nairobi in the company of his lawyer.
