Tycoon arrested for hiring out guns to criminals

Security agencies have arrested a Mombasa based tycoon for allegedly hiring out guns to criminal gangs in the coastal region.

Salim Islam Abeid, who is a licensed firearm holder, is currently being interrogated by police at unknown police station in Mombasa County for what police term as colluding with criminal gangs, a matter that has undermined peace and tranquility in the county.

Speaking during a tour at a Mombasa Huduma center, area County Commissioner Nelson Marwa confirmed that security agencies have withdrawn six guns from the suspect who has three different homes in three counties.

Marwa claimed that the suspect is a dangerous man and is to blame for the frequent attacks and killings that have been witnessed in various parts of the county.

The county commissioner has been on a mission to rid the Mombasa of criminal gangs and illegal firearms said that any person who misuses firearms in public would not be spared.

In late October, Marwa announced that government had started an exercise to count the number of street children after reports emerged that a section of them had joined the Al-Shabaab terror group.

According to Marwa, the militant group has been luring street children by promising to pay them Sh70,000 when they join.

Marwa also revealed that unemployed youths and students doing technical courses in universities are also being targeted by Al-Shabaab.

The announcement came just a day after Marwa released a photograph of a man who is suspected to be part of a criminal gang that has been engaging in unlawful activities in the county.

He further instructed the top police officers in Mombasa County to search for the suspect and ensure he is arrested and his firearm withdrawn immediately.

Addressing a press conference, Marwa claimed that the suspect is part of a criminal gang whose members have been allegedly covering their faces while conducting heinous acts.

In early October, security agencies in Mombasa launched investigations into the alleged formation of a new terror gang and to establish its members and those behind its formation.

The gang is suspected to have played a pivotal role in the killing of a police officer at Bondeni area.

According to security officials, the gang members have been impersonating police officers using fake police identification cards.

Addressing journalists after a security meeting, Coast Regional Police Commandant Francis Wanjohi and Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa confirmed that police were investigating those funding the group.