Wanjigi a ‘nefarious criminal’ says Gov’t Spokesman

Government spokesperson Eric Kiraithe says the police raid launched on businessman Jimmy Wanjigi’s Muthaiga home in Nairobi is not politically motivated, but a clampdown on a “nefarious criminal”.

Addressing journalists at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Tuesday morning after attending the Girls Matter Forum, Kiraithe said police are looking for the businessman after a cache of firearms was discovered inside a Malindi villa linked to the tycoon.

“The police are doing a very simple task, which is not politically motivated. The raid on Wanjigi’s home means we have a nefarious criminal in our midst, who has been uncovered, period,” said Kiraithe.

“The search launched on Wanjigi’s home is not by any means political… When you hear that illegal firearms have been recovered from anybody, it simply means that that person is a nefarious criminal who every law enforcement agent needs to go on overdrive. Any gun outside here in the wrong hands is a threat to the security of each and every Kenyan,” said Kiraithe.

More officers drawn from the Flying Squad, General Service Unit (GSU) and Special Crime Prevention department moved into the 44 Muthaiga Road house Tuesday morning with heavily armed policemen on guard outside the gate.

Head of Flying Squad, Said Mohamed, on Monday said detectives had gone after Wanjigi to question him over links to the heavy firearms; five AK-47 rifles and 93 rounds of ammunition recovered in the Malindi villa.

Wanjigi however, filed an application Tuesday morning seeking to bar the police from arresting or prosecuting him, saying his arrest was politically motivated, and also inspired by a need to embarrass him.