Bandits in uniform: Of Kenyan police and mysterious love for bullets

On September 29, six serving officers were arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts, where detectives sought to hold them on allegations that they were supplying bandits with bullets.

Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi allowed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to hold the six for 10 days as they probe the dangerous network supplying ammunition to criminal gangs in Turkana and Kenya–Sudan border.

The suspects, Corporals Isaac Kipngetich, Cyrus Kisamwa, Samson Muriithi, Wesley Sang and Paul Kipketer and prison warder Charles Lotira Ekidor were all arrested in Nairobi and Eldoret cities in coordinated raids by the DCI’s Operations Support Unit (OSU).

The detectives recovered a pistol, over 10 assorted magazines, and ammunition.

Kipng’etich, who is an armoury officer in Turkana County was arrested on Thursday, September 25, after he was stopped by OSU detectives on Uhuru Highway ferrying 1,007 rounds of ammunition in his Toyota Passo.

The officer had been on leave for only two days and was to return to work on November 11, 2025. He was therefore not authorised to handle government issued ammunition while off duty.

In court the investigating officer Corporal Hillary Kimuyu said; “The ammunitions were believed to be on transit to be used in the commission of crimes such as murder, maiming, and banditry within Turkana County and other adjacent counties where innocent lives have been lost, people displaced, and livestock stolen.”

The DCI told Magistrate Ekhubi that the pistol, assorted magazines, and ammunition were all traced back to official armouries.

Kisamwa and Muriithi are attached to Nairobi’s Central Police Station and their roles are to ferry the ammunition from government stores.

READ: Bandits in uniform: Police officers linked to illicit arms trade arrested

Ekidor is alleged to have been the one to receive and ferry the consignment to Lodwar for sale and redistribution.

Corporal Kimuyu in his affidavit further alleged that Sang and Tonui held the keys to the store where the pistol, magazines, and other ammunition were stored.

Their arrest came from intelligence reports that linked the uniformed officers to an underground network that supplies ammunition to criminals in the Northern part of the country.

The arrest of the six officers comes less than four years since the arrest of police officers and suspicious deaths and disappearances of colleagues suspected of handling and selling ammunition.

In January 2021, Joseph Nyakaor Chagem, a GSU officer attached to the units training school was arrested after his luggage was found with ammunition.

He had boarded a Kitale bound matatu at Afya Centre but alighted mid journey at Gitaru.

He had allegedly informed the matatu driver to call him once he arrives in Kitale but he left a bag behind which aroused the curiosity of other passengers.

The driver drove into Nderi Police Station and reported the matter where police opened the bag and found some 750 rounds of ammunition in a sealed metal box.

On April 17, 2021, police recovered 2,640 bullets from a thicket after they were discovered by a group of rangers from West Gate Community Conservancy.

The rangers had been working with police to evict pastoralists who had invaded the conservancy in search of feed for their animals.

A police report at the time said that a rider and his pillion passenger were the ones who dropped the consignment containing 44 boxes of 7.62mm ammunition with 60 rounds in each one of them.

On July 9, 2021, a police officer who was in charge of the armory at the General Service Unit (GSU) headquarters was abducted and has never been seen to date.

Corporal Joseph Otieno had left the camp for shopping at a supermarket in Roasters using a hired a vehicle and he was set to come pick his family from the camp to go to his rural home in Kisumu County.

He never came back and calls to his phone went unanswered.

Detectives who investigated the case said that his phone’s signal was last traced to Ruaraka at around 11:13am.

As his family continued to look for the officer who had no prior disciplinary issues the vehicle that he was using was found abandoned in Mwiki the following day.

The owner was traced and it was returned to the rental company where Otieno had picked it from.

He had served in the VIP protection unit.

On August 1, 2021, Inspector Ibrahim Bonaya was traveling from Kyumbi to Nairobi alongside Noor Posta and another passenger.

The vehicle that the two men were travelling in was blocked by gun men who sprayed it with 19 bullets that hit Bonaya and Posta killing them while the third occupant survived the hit.

Bonaya was in charge of the Masii Police Station’s crime branch and before that he was serving in the GSU.

Corporal Joseph Maghanga, an instructor with the GSU, was found dead in a quarry in Utawala, Nairobi.

His body was discovered on August 23, 2021, and it had a deep cut on the forehead leading to the conclusion that he was attacked.

GSU at the time was under the command of current Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja.

Nothing was taken from him as his phones remained in his pockets.

His colleagues at the Embakasi B National Police Service College-GSU said that the officer was last seen on Sunday, a day before his body was discovered.

On September 3, 2023, DCI officers from Bungoma arrested, Isaac Wanzala, a former GSU officer and recovered two firearms. The officers said that the firearms had mysteriously gone missing from a Kopsiro GSU.

Wanzala was on suspension for disciplinary reasons.

Detectives suspected that he had sneaked into the camp and made away with the firearms which he then buried in River Sio near Mabonge Village in Busia County.

On September 13, 2021, Sergeant Osman Ahmed Omar Godana of service number 89450 was abducted by hooded men near the Blue Post hotel.

He was traveling to Nairobi from Isiolo in company of four other people when their vehicle was blocked by a station wagon that saw four men alight and demanded that Godana alights from his vehicle.

After he had been handcuffed the men allegedly told the four occupants that they had who they wanted and they can continue with their journey.

He was bundled into the station wagon that then drove away and he has never been found to date.

On September 14, 2021, Inspector David Okoth was arrested and later charged at the Makadara Law Courts on September 23 with being in possession of ammunition.

He was attached to the GSU training school in Embakasi.

ALSO READ: How police officers allegedly supplied guns, bullets to bandits

According to the charge sheet, he had some 2,040 rounds of ammunition of 7.62x39mm “without a lawful justification from licensing officer".

The ammunition was not in Okoth's possession but were found in his car that had been abandoned in Mihang’o, Njiru Sub County, opposite a petrol station.

His vehicle, a Mitsubishi Lancer registration number KAT 887G, was sprayed with bullets with witnesses saying that it had been driven there and abandoned.

Another vehicle, white in color, drove not long after and a lone gun man alighted and fired at it several times before fleeing.

In total, the vehicle was shot at 20 times.

Locals reported the matter to the police and when they arrived at the scene they found documents belonging to Okoth, two mobile phones and a wallet.

They also discovered the ammunition which was in some 34 cartons.

Reports at the time are that Okoth was then picked up by another vehicle that dumped in Tatu City.

He travelled to the Ruai Police Station where he reported that unknown people had abducted him but he was then arrested and detained.

Last year detectives arrested a chief inspector, a constable and a couple after several rounds of ammunition were found in their house in Laikipia on April 17.

Chief Inspector Joel Warui Githaiga and Constable Martin Murimi were both drawn from the Anti-Stock Theft Unit Sondu camp.

The 2,658 rounds were found in Josphat Maina Karanja and Teresiah Wairimu’s home.

They were all charged at the Kibera Law Courts.