A foreign investor and his Kenyan wife are now staring at possible prosecution, after they were found in possession of illegal guns in the wake of claims of a criminal syndicate issuing firearm licences to civilians outside the official government security system.
Mr Andrew Laird White and his wife, Joy Akoth Mboya, had visited the Central Firearms Bureau Nairobi headquarters to renew their licenses, but their weapons, Taurus pistols, were confiscated.
The couple was informed that records showed that their license numbers indicated that the actual owners of the weapons were Mr G. Nyamaku and Mr M. Talaal who had actually registered the firearms two months before the accused persons registered for the same.
Mr White and his wife were taken to the County Criminal Investigations Officer who in turn gave orders that they be charged with illegal possession of firearms.
The couple had been renewing their licenses every year without problems until the syndicate was unearthed late last year, when they went for their annual renewal only to have their firearms and certificates seized.
Chief licensing officer Mr Samuel Kimaru criticized the incident and issued a word of caution to anyone who could be in possession of such arms.
“We want to warn anybody with such a certificate to surrender them. There are quacks (sic) out there pretending to be licensing and we are cracking down on them. Having a semi-automatic weapon will land you up to 10 years. A full automatic has up to 15 year sentence.” the Nation quotes Kimaru.
Report indicated that unscrupulous officers, who infiltrated the police firearms registry are helping people buy guns and ammunition.
