Piece by: CYRUS OMBATI

03 August 2022

• Such weapons usually end in the wrong hands and cause havoc.

• For instance, a pistol that was four years ago stolen from a police officer after he was stupefied in Nairobi was linked to a whopping 28 crimes in the city.

A junior cop was arrested after he reported to authorities he had lost his pistol while riding on a motorcycle in Nairobi.

Police are now looking for the pistol, which went missing in Industrial Area on Monday night.

The officer was arrested after he went to report the pistol with 14 bullets had gone missing after it dropped off a holster as he rode on a motorcycle.

Police say they are investigating the incident with an aim of taking further action on the officer even as the search for it goes on. Such weapons usually end in the wrong hands and cause havoc.

For instance, a pistol that was four years ago stolen from a police officer after he was stupefied in Nairobi was linked to a whopping 28 robbery incidents in the city.

The attackers who had taken possession of the Jericho pistol after it was stolen from a police officer on June 20, 2019, in Parklands area, Nairobi, targeted Mpesa shops.

The weapon was recovered from slain suspects in June along Northern Bypass.

Ballistic tests on the Jericho Pistol showed it had been used to commit 28 crimes in Kasarani, Makadara, Kayole, Kamukunji, Dandora, Buruburu, Ruai, Kikuyu, Embakasi and Karatina.

The weapon was recovered from three men who had been lynched on June 25, 2022, by a mob after robbing a Mpesa attendant in Marurui, along Northern bypass.

The gun was stolen from a police officer who was then attached to Riruta police station on special duties. Previously, he worked at Parklands police station.

He had been stupefied and left in a trench before his weapon was picked up by his attackers.

A team of detectives analyzing the cases committed by the pistol said they discovered the firearm was then hired to gangsters operating from Kayole, who for the past four years have terrorized over the Mpesa agents in the city.

The gang struck and sped off using motorcycles.

Some have lost their lives while others bear permanent bullet marks that will forever be a sad reminder of their encounter with the bloodthirsty gang.

Police officers have not been spared either as some continue nursing wounds, inflicted by the thugs who escaped several police dragnets.

Using the firearm, the gang made away with an estimated Sh10 million from the Mpesa agents alone, the DCI says.