Police arrest suspected Somali bandit, recover rifles

Mandera, Kenya: Police in Mandera County apprehended a suspected Somali militia and recovered two firearms with rounds of ammunition in two separate incidents.

“The lone gunman, whom we suspect to be the ring leader of a gang of militia terrorising commuters along the Mandera-Lafey road, approached a family in the area for food and water.

The family obliged as they sent for men in the village and consequently subdued him,” he said. “The villagers then alerted our security officers.”

Bunei said a US-made special assault rifle, highly sophisticated and rarely used in the country, and 12 rounds of ammunition, were also recovered from the bandit.

“The culprit was armed with a Springfield M-14 assault rifle. We also recovered two magazines with 12 rounds of ammunition,” he said.

State amnesty

The highway is along the porous and volatile Kenya/ Somali border.

And in the second incident, a reformed bandit in Rhamu, Mandera North district, surrendered an AK-47 assault rifle to the security personnel in the area to benefit from the prevailing amnesty issued by the Government to people with illegal arms in the county recently rocked by deadly inter-clan violence that claimed the lives of about hundred people.

Speaking to The Standard at his office in Mandera town, Bunei said a total of 32 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunitions were surrendered since the beginning of this year.

standardmedia.co.ke/