Aids agencies vehicles plying in North-Eastern
region will be no longer exempted from security checking and inspection a
senior security chief in North-Eastern has told Standard in an exclusive
interview on Sunday at his office.
Musa Yego, the regional detective boss comments
came hours after a pistol was found in one of aid agencies vehicle traveling
from Dadaab refugee camps to Nairobi by military officers in a road barriers
some five kilometers from Garissa town on Saturday afternoon.
A suspect believed to be the owner of the bag
found with tokarev pistol and a driver of the aid agency were arrested connection
with the smuggling of the firearm loaded with 7 rounds of ammunitions.
Speaking to the Frontierleaks Yego said all aid
agencies vehicles and that VIPs plying on the roads in the region will no
longer enjoy the preferential treatment of their vehicles and passengers being
exempted from security scrutiny which is usually put under the public vehicles
and passengers.
“The discovery of a weapon being smuggled inside
international aid agency is a confirmation that, criminals were now using preferential
treatment given to aid organisation officials and workers to beat us. We have
now ordered our security officers manning road checks to through inspect all
vehicles plying in the region’s roads including those of humanitarian agencies,
their workers luggage as well as those of VIPs” he said.
“The criminals are now working with some aid
workers to smuggler weapons and criminals in the country using their vehicles.
These people are taking advantage of our respect for aid agencies helping our
people. But now we shall inspect all vehicles regardless of their owners and
mission in the region into security inspection” he added.
Yego
said the 34 years Idle Abdi Adow, who is claiming to be a youth leader in
Dadaab was arrested with possession of the Russian made pistol together with
driver of the vehicle owned by Care International.
He said the suspect was arrested on Saturday
afternoon by Kenyan military officers at Modika roadblock five kilometers from
Garissa town. The pistol loaded with seven rounds of ammunition was clandestinely
placed inside a bag owned by the youth “leaders”.
The NEP detective chief said, was turned away
from Care international departure lounge in Dadaab, in the morning of Saturday
where he went to board the aid agency vehicle while he was not in the list of
those to travel with the minibus, which was to take some staff to Garissa and
Nairobi.
“We suspect he boarded the vehicle on the way
after departure from the Care offices with the help of another driver who was
not on duty, but also traveling with the same vehicle to Garissa. The driver
has since disappeared after disembarking on the way and the police has launched
for his manhunt.
“The
vehicle left Dadaab refugee camp and was heading to Nairobi carrying some of
the aid workers. We want to know how the driver allowed the suspect in the
vehicle yet he (suspect) was not in the original manifest of the travelling
passengers”, said Yego.
“We are
investigating where he was taking the gun and from where. We are also investigating
whether it has been a routine to smuggle illegal firearms/goods on aid agencies
vehicle which were enjoying preferential from security inspection during their
travel or whether the incident is has occurred in isolation. We have witnesses
who saw him board the vehicle when it had left the aid agency’s offices”, he
said.
Garissa has witnessed a series of grenade and
gun attacks since 2011 when KDF launched an onslaught against al-Shabaab in
Somalia.
Other MPs from the region who opposed to
inspection of their vehicles terming it as intimidation and unfair
embarrassment are Balambala MP Abdikhadir Aden and his Wajir South MP Abdullahi
Direye.
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