Did a mourner lose his firearm out of recklessness at Karigu-ini Primary School in Murang’a during the burial of one of the country’s second liberation heroes Charles Rubia?
This is one of the many questions that DCI detectives will be seeking to answer as they track down two women caught on CCTV cameras handing over a backpack containing the firearm to a luggage attendant at Naivas Supermarket in Thika town on December 30, 2019.
On Thursday last week, the weapon, a Glock hand pistol, was recovered at the luggage section of the supermarket by the attendant on duty after allegedly staying in one of the shelves undetected for nine days.
CAR BROKEN INTO
The gun was stolen from a car during Mr Rubia’s burial.
The weapon was stolen alongside its two spare magazines, each with 15 rounds of ammunition and an iPad.
The cars owner discovered his weapon was missing shortly after the burial ended and began a frantic search for it before reporting the matter at Kabati Police Station.
He had earlier been allowed access to the VIP parking lot inside the school compound but, as a result of his late arrival at the ceremony, his vehicle was locked out of the slot, forcing him to park by the roadside.
THIKA SUPERMARKET
Unknown to him, the gun had been ferried to Thika and abandoned at Naivas supermarket luggage section the same day.
The supermarket’s branch manager, Mr Daniel Mukuha, explained that the bag did not raise any suspicions because customers sometimes forget their belongings at the luggage section and return for them after a day or two.
But on Thursday, Mr Mukuha said, the supermarket’s luggage attendant decided to check the contents of the backpack whose owner, he thought, had either forgotten about it or thought he/she had lost it.
CCTV FOOTAGE
“It was then that he discovered there was a weapon inside and informed us. We called in the police and reviewed the CCTV footage to establish who had dropped the bag,” said Mr Mukuha.
The CCTV footage showed two women with partly covered faces entering the building and dropping the bag before leaving shortly after.
Thika West Sub-County Police Commander Beatrice Kiraguri told the Nation that police were looking for the two women.
“The CCTV footage shows them entering the luggage section and leaving immediately after. They did not enter the supermarket; their intention, therefore, was to dump the weapon,” she said.
Without disclosing his identity, the police commander said the owner was a licensed gun holder and that he would get back his weapon once investigations are completed.
The weapon is now in the hands of ballistics experts at the DCI headquarters and will be used as an exhibit in the case against the two women.