Piece by: CYRUS OMBATI

23 June 2022

• Here is long list of his past crimes

Ken Wycliff Okello Lugwili, the man behind an armory that has been operating without license is not new to controversy.

He has been in trouble in the past, but somehow pulled through, his friends say.

Lugwili is under probe for running firearm businesses without a license. This came out after police stumbled on a cache of arms in his office, which acted as an armoury.

He was taken by detectives from the DCI Anti-terror police unit (ATPU) after he surrendered to the police in Kilimani for grilling after his armoury cum office was found with 22 assorted guns and more than 500 bullets.

Lugwili, the proprietor of Vic. Technologies Limited had for a long time failed to pay his monthly rent prompting the landlord, Ballon Wanjala Nangalama, to seek a court order allowing him to break into the premises.

Lugwili, a.k.a General DeFao, is also a licensed arms dealer through Vic Technology Systems Ltd.

Here is some information about his past.

He has in the past been linked to among others the death of former University of Nairobi student Mercy Keino in 2011. He told police then he was driving his Mercedes Benz on Waiyaki Way when he stumbled on the body of Keino that night.
In 2019 he was linked to a land fraud case in a land belonging to Erwin Stillhard and Summinder Sonia Stillhard.
He was in May 2019 arrested with nine other suspects, among them seven foreigners, with fake $190 million in Nairobi’s Kilimani area.
In police statements he recorded after the arrest over the fake currency, he claimed to be a businessman who deals in used cars and also owned a security company.
His first major collision with authorities was 19 years ago when he was sentenced to nine years on September 9, 2003, for defrauding various businessmen while impersonating Alfred Gitonga, who was then an aide to former President Mwai Kibaki. His sentence, however, translated to three years as the sentences were to run concurrently.
A month later, he was sentenced to two years in prison for trying to defraud former Kenya Pipeline managing director Ezekiel Komen of Sh20,000.
He presents himself as a businessman.

Police handling the arms case said they plan to ask the court to allow them to detain him for a longer time to allow them conduct further probe on his past activities.

He had been selling weapons to licensed gun holders.

The detectives visited his office on Wednesday evening and took away documents, witnesses said.

Accompanied by Kilimani-based police officers, Hebros auctioneers gained entry into the premises, ready to issue a notification of sale of any worthy items in a bid to recover rent arrears amounting to Sh4,962,990.

Once inside, a quick search revealed an armoury, stocked with an assortment of weapons of different caliber and hundreds of ammunition.

Detectives said they have since established that the man was a licensed firearm dealer but his license was suspended over three years ago.

The recovery was made at an office along Wood Avenue in the Kilimani area, Nairobi where a distressed man had had his valuables put on auction for failing to pay the rent.

Nine escort magnum short guns, one Benelli short gun, five Quatro short guns, one savage short gun, six Walter pistols, and a total of 565 ammunition of assorted different calibres.

Police said they also found 25 pistol holsters, dozens of magazine carriers, 30 slings, ten sniper torches and a certificate of registration as a firearm dealer.

The team also found firearm movement registers and assorted firearm manuals.