Police in Wajir County are holding five suspects who have been linked to a firearm and ammunitions that were recovered from a bus belonging to Legend Bus Company on Tuesday.
The bus, which had 57 passengers onboard at the time of the incident, was heading to Nairobi from Mandera. The bus was intercepted at a roadblock at Tarbaj Highway during a routine checkpoint.
According to the police, the five were found in possession of an AK47 rifle which had a fixed butt stock and without serial number and was wrapped with a Somali brown red matt, four empty AK-47 rifle magazines, two bolt head carriers without serial numbers and 201 rounds of ammunitions.
“Upon further interrogation the passengers failed to disclose the owner of the arms cache. The suspects are assisting in further investigations,” the police have said in a report.
The report also revealed that the bus was found with contraband goods and the officers ordered it is taken to the Tarbaj Police Station.
Inside the station a further search was carried out and the weapons were found stashed on the rear passenger seat.
Already, officers attached to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) have taken over the case and are grilling the suspects.
This comes at a time when the country is witnessing an upsurge on terror-related incidents, especially in the vast North Eastern region.
Six days ago, an ambush was conducted by a Special Operation Group which attacked Al-Shabaab hideouts within Mandera County leading to the dead of 20 militants.
