The National Police Service (NPS) revealed that billionaire businessman Jimi Wanjigi, who was charged with illegal possession of firearms, was once a police reservist and kept his guns after being dismissed from the service.
According to the police, the businessman was fired from the service for “threatening other people”, stripped of police powers and ordered to surrender the guns and bullets.
At the time of his dismissal as a police reservist, Wanjigi held the rank of inspector.
The reports also indicated that Wanjigi later convinced senior police officers to return his weapons.
[caption caption="Businessman Jimi Wanjigi"]
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Six years after he got his weapons back, Wanjigi was allegedly involved in a dispute with unnamed people, who accused him of threatening to shoot them.
Police maintained that his guns were confiscated once again and his certificate of civilian firearm cancelled, but he got them back.
On his part, Wanjigi who is to appear in court on Monday denied the charges, maintaining he has licences for the guns police officers took from his Muthaiga home during a raid in October 2017.
The guns included four Glock pistols, a Mini Archer rifle, a Norinco CQ rifle and a Smith Wesson pistol and police noted that the two rifles are too powerful to be in civilian hands.
In a new twist, the prosecution will be aiming to prove to the magistrate that Wanjigi does not fit the risk profile of someone who needs a gun to protect himself “because he lives in one of the safest places in Nairobi County”.
[caption caption="Image taken on October 17, 2017 shows the guns police found in businessman Jimi Wanjigi's Muthaiga home"]
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Police maintained that Wanjigi was still holding several firearms illegally as some of the guns believed to be in his possession were not at his Muthaiga residence when officers raided it last year.
