Drama hits Mombasa cops drug killing case
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Updated 6 hrs 58 mins ago
By Willis Oketch
An attempt to bring justice and closure to the June 26, 2009 killing of two Administration Police officers in a suspected drug probe suffered a major setback after the Mombasa High Court stopped the arrest of key suspects who are serving police officers. And in a twist of events, the officers now claim they are being sacrificed and their proposed trial for murder
is politically motivated and also driven by pressure from the media. Cliff Ombeta, one of their lawyers, told the journalists outside the law courts on Tuesday that the Coast Provincial Police Commissioner who gave the orders to shoot the AP officers at the time should be the one on trial instead of his clients.
The suspects include former Flying Squad Commander for Mombasa Wiston Mwita who was deployed to Isebania after protests in the coastal city after the gunning down of AP inspectors Badi Said Mwanjirani and Juma Yusuf Mwagaatu in 2009.
Other suspects are Corporal M Mwonga, George Siama, Zakayo Chirchir, Nicholas Njagi, Raphael Munyao, Stanley Murungi and Cpl Joseph Kyunguti who were part of the squad that allegedly killed the two AP officers.
Their lawyers said on Tuesday they are scapegoats in a complicated investigation contrived to cover the masterminds of the officer’s killing.
Friends in high places
The matter is being watched closely in Mombasa which has a longstanding and entrenched narcotics problem because it has been alleged that Badi and Juma were investigating a drug haul in Ganjoni area of Mombasa when they were lured and killed on the orders of a senior police officer, believed to have been connected to the drugs’ kingpin. The senior police officer has since been transferred from the province.
Last year, KTN’s investigations team produced a daring expose of the cover-up that followed the seizure of Kenya’s largest ever cocaine haul in December 2004.
In a series of television features tagged ‘Paruwanja la Mihadarati’ (Jicho Pevu) and ‘The Untouchables’ (Inside Story) the teams looked at the events surrounding the discovery of tonnes of cocaine in Malindi and Nairobi.
Senior Investigative Editor Mohammed Ali and Senior Investigative Reporter Dennis Onsarigo disclosed how several tonnes of the cocaine went missing, how key suspects were allowed to escape and how two State prosecutions were deliberately mishandled.
They also shone light on the drastic lengths to which Kenya’s drug barons and their friends in high places go to ensure their secrets remain protected. At least four police officers and one spy investigating or connected to drug-related cases have been killed in mysterious circumstances, the team reported. The police dismissed this as “alarmist” or false reporting. However, they are yet to explain the five killings cited in the report adequately.
Video evidence being held by the police can also prove that Administration Police officers Badi Mwajirani and Juma Mwagaatu were unlawfully killed in the manner reported by Ali and Onsarigo, vindicating KTN’s bold reporting.
Last weekend, KTN aired an explosive investigation where Mr Ali and Mr Onsarigo hunted down the powerful forces that orchestrated the massive cover up. The Standard On Saturday and The Standard On Sunday also exclusively carried the stories.
Sparked panic
But the AP headquarters maintains the slain officers had knowledge of narcotics stored somewhere linked to senior police officers and they were lured to their deaths as they planned to recover the haul.
The APs who were killed in a hail of bullets and a Ceska pistol and nine rounds of ammunition found on them at Toyota Kenya Showroom off Moi Avenue in Mombasa.
Police later accused the two AP officers of allegedly planning to rob and also tried to link them to another robbery at Weld Well Limited shop within Makupa in Mombasa where shoppers were allegedly robbed off money, phones and other goods.
Following a protracted three-year investigation done in Nairobi, the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has recommended the eight be tried for the two officer’s murder sparking panic in police and drug trafficking circles in Coast Province.
The case has been complex and twisted with initial police reports alleging Badi and Juma had a criminal record dating to 2000 were killed trying to rob the electronics shop but further investigations done from Nairobi led to a recommendation that those who killed them should, actually be tried for murder.
Initial police investigations in Mombasa tried to show that Badi was acquitted of murder charges in Kwale in 2000 but the Provincial Criminal Investigation Officer in Mombasa in 2009 the late Reche Nyaga recommended further investigation although he had characterised their shooting to death as appropriate.
Early this week, the suspects were summoned by Coast Provincial Criminal Investigation Officer Ambrose Munyasia following recommendations for murder charges but before that could happen their lawyer Jared Magolo rushed to the High Court to stop the arrest.
Justice Mary Kasango stopped the arrest after Sergeant Mwita successfully sought orders stopping Mombasa CID boss Shadrack Kitheka to keep off the suspects until the court can determine if they should be arrested or tried.
Kasango ruled the suspects will remain free until June 6 when Tobiko and their lawyers will battle it out in court to determine whether they should be arrested.
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