Police arrested two men and recovered a pistol loaded with 11 rounds of ammunition during an operation targeting suspected robbery suspects in Nairobi’s Mowlem area.
The firearm, identified as a Canik pistol, was recovered at Ashby House in Baraka Mowlem in the early hours of Sunday, November 8.
Police said they acted on actionable intelligence and arrested the first suspect, identified as Michael Osman Okanda, aged 22, in Chokaa. A second suspect was arrested hours later.
Although nothing was recovered from him during a search, the suspect reportedly led officers to the residence of his alleged accomplice, Brian Mbugua Ndungu alias Mwarabu, aged 27.
The second suspect was not found at his residence when officers arrived. He was nabbed hours later.
However, upon gaining entry and conducting a thorough search, police discovered a Canik pistol, concealed in a jacket hanging inside a wardrobe.
The firearm was fitted with a magazine containing 11 rounds of 9×19mm ammunition.
Detectives also recovered assorted documents bearing the name of the second suspect from the house.
The scene was processed and documented, while Okanda was placed in police custody.
The manhunt soon gathered momentum when detectives established that Mwarabu worked as a boda boda rider within Nairobi’s Central Business District, plying the CBD–Dagoretti route. Further intelligence
indicated that he routinely returned to his rented house in the morning hours.
Detectives would not leave that to chance.
They laid an ambush and waited for their man to walk straight into their trap.
Their patience paid off, when Mwarabu rode into the waiting officers’ dragnet aboard a red Boxer motorcycle and was promptly arrested.
The motorcycle, suspected to have been used in the commission of the crime, was also detained as an exhibit.
Both suspects are now in custody, undergoing processing pending arraignment. Meanwhile, detectives are retracing their movements and activities to establish whether the duo could be linked to other armed robberies and criminal incidents across the capital.
