Kenyans arrested in Moshi were in Kenya's most wanted list
Richard
Story by NATION Reporter
Publication Date: 04/03/2006
Some of the 12 Kenyans facing robbery with violence charges in Tanzania
have been on the Kenya police list of the most wanted people.
Some have also been linked to crime over the last two years.
When they were arrested in Mozambique, five Kenyan detectives left for
Maputo and it was expected that they would bring home the suspects.
The team, led by Nairobi provincial CID boss Sammy Githui, flew from
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and was scheduled to return with
the suspects on January 19 - but they did not.
Two of those in custody in Moshi are wanted for armed robberies in
Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, police spokesman Jaspher Ombati said at the
time.
The men were arrested in Maputo on December 16.
Police say that their investigations show that the suspects had planned
their operations and obtained travelling documents after a surveillance
mission in Mozambique.
Some of the suspects, police said, had evaded a Kenya police dragnet
over the years, graduating into international crime while recruiting
youngsters into the trade.
Interpol detectives, who had been monitoring the men, first informed
the Tanzanian government about the group's activities after a 2003
bank robbery in which billions of Tanzanian shillings was stolen.
Twenty-eight year old Wilfred Nganyi Onyango alias 'Dadi', who hails
from Siaya in Nyanza Province and holder of passport number A989178,
acquired the document on November 23, 2005. He declared his profession
as a marketer.
Mr Nganyi had been arrested by Kenya police on allegations of being
involved in a bank robbery in Moshi, but was released after the court
declined to give extradition orders as demanded by Tanzanian police.
Another suspect, Mr Peter (Patrick) Muthee Muriithi alias 'Musevu', was
described by the police as "a vicious, armed and dangerous man"
suspected to be involved in bank and highway robberies. His name and
picture still features on the Kenya police Web site of most wanted
suspects.
He is wanted in Kenya in connection with a spate of robberies around
Nairobi. He is suspected to have been involved in a robbery at Blue
Seas Forex Bureau on Kimathi street in which Sh20 million was stolen by
armed gangsters in police uniform.
The robbery was recorded on cameras in the bureau and a neighbouring
building. He has never been arrested by the Kenya police.
Mr Patrick Muthee Muriithi, 36, travelled as a Nyeri businessman on
Kenyan passport number A988518, issued on the same day as Nganyi's -
November 23, 2005.
Kenyan police say that although most of them are suspected of
involvement in crime, some have never been arrested.
They include 48-year-old Peter Mahera Kariba travelling on passport
number A748879 as a radio teacher.
Mr Gabriel Kariuki Kung'u Mwangi was born on December 4, 1978 in
Nyandarua and holds passport number A992579 issued on December 7, 2005.
He was described as a businessman.
Thirty three-year-old Michael Wathigo Mbanya, holder of passport number
A552457 issued on February 10, 2000, travelled as a businessman.
Mr John Odongo Odhiambo, 43, who was born in Bondo and holder of Kenyan
passport number A847891 issued on May 12, 2004, is also described as a
businessman.
Nyandarua born Boniface Mwangi Mburu, 25, travelling on Kenyan passport
number B076868, is described as a garden worker.
Another man, 24 year-old Jim Maina Njoroge, holds passport number
A918650 issued on March 15, 2005.
Thirty three-year-old Nairobi-born David Ngugi Mburu, travelling on
Kenyan passport number A950996, issued on July 15, 2005, was described
by Kenyan police as "conversant and confident with an AK47 assault
rifle". The police also said he was dangerous. It is not yet clear if
some of the men will be taken to court in Kenya after the hearing and
determination of their cases in Tanzania.
Richard
Men in bank raid case left Nairobi for Maputo but ended in Moshi court
Story by DOMINIC WABALA
Publication Date: 04/03/2006
The Kenyans, who were limping when they appeared in court, said they
were tortured
The story of the 12 Kenyans currently facing robbery with violence and
murder charges in Tanzania reads like a crime thriller.
They are alleged to have operated in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi,
Zambia and Mozambique over the last two years. Police say the intrigues
and escapades of the men, now known as "the Moshi 12" could be the
closest Kenyan suspects have come to forming a web of organised
regional crime.
The men are still awaiting trial for three charges of robbery with
violence and one of murder in a Moshi court. However, they have pleaded
not guilty to all the charges.
And last Thursday, the group went to court to challenge their trial,
saying they were abducted from Maputo and "dumped" in Dar es Salaam
from where they were picked up by Tanzanian detectives.
Published in media
Until December last year, the suspects were unknown but soon after
that, their faces were prominently published in the media after they
were arrested in Mozambique.
How and why the 12 suspects, presumably well known to the police, found
their way to Mozambique allegedly on a criminal mission remains a
mystery.
But according to sources, the men travelled to the country in three
separate groups. The first, which comprised 42-year-old Simon Githinji
Kariuki and heavy-set Simon Ndung'u Kiambuthi alias 'Kenen' arrived
in Maputo on December 1, last year2005.
The next group, comprising 28-year-old Wilfred Onyango Nganyi alias
'Dadi' and Patrick Muthee Muriithi alias 'Musevu' flew to
Maputo on a Kenya Airways flight on December 8.
And the third group, which travelled a week later, included Gabriel
Kung'u Kariuki, Peter Mahera Kariba, Michael Wathigo Mbanya, Jimmy
Maina Njoroge alias 'Ordinari', Peter Gakuru Mburu, Boniface Mwangi
Mburu alias 'Bonche', David Ngugi Mburu alias Davi and John Odongo
Odhiambo.
Return air ticket
The men had each bought an open return air ticket to Nairobi.
On arrival, they are alleged to have obtained either tourist or
business visas and bought a Mitsubishi Pajero to ease their movement.
But their plans soon met a hurdle.
In their defence during an inquiry into their activities following
their arrest in Maputo, the men said that they had travelled to
Mozambique to explore business opportunities, especially in tourism,
hand crafts and souvenirs.
The Mozambican police, who said they had been tipped off by a woman
informer, believed that the Kenyans were dangerous people who were
involved in illegal activities.
A judge appointed to hear the inquest into their activities in
Mozambique ruled that they had done nothing wrong and ordered their
release. He said they were free to stay in the country for as long as
they wished. But the Mozambican police twice defied the court's orders
to release them and give them back their Sh2.4 million ($34,000) and
their car.
A Mozambican police officer then tipped off his Tanzanian counterparts
about the Kenyans and invited the officers to Maputo with the intention
of taking the suspects to Tanzania where they were to be charged with
three counts of robbery and one of murder.
They were moved to another police station where they were held until
January 14 when they were bundled into police vans that took them to
Maputo airport. Here, they were held in relative luxury compared to
what awaited them in Tanzania.
The men allege to have been met by Kenyan and Tanzanian police officers
at the airport. Their passports had been handed over to the Tanzanian
police but they declined to board a scheduled flight to Dar es Salaam
insisting on using their Kenya Airways tickets.
However, their luggage was checked in and their passports were stamped
with Mozambican exit stamps. Their Kenyan lawyer, Mr Cliff Ombeta,
advised them not to board the plane, prompting the police to lock them
up again at a police station in the city.
The lawyer was also arrested and held for three days in a Maputo police
station for allegedly inciting the men against boarding the Dar es
Salaam-bound flight. He was released only after his clients had been
flown out.
On January 16, the Kenyans were again handcuffed and bundled into
police vehicles, which ferried them to a military airport where again
they met Tanzanian and Kenyan police officers. Their passports were
again stamped with exit permits before the suspects were allegedly
forced onto a Mozambican military plane, which flew them to Dar es
Salaam.
On arrival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzanian authorities endorsed their
passports with business visa entries. But the handcuffed men were
blindfolded and frog-marched by heavily armed security officers who
bundled them into police vehicles and drove them to separate police
stations in the city.
Three days later, their hands and legs still chained, the suspects were
again bundled into police vehicles under the escort of three
paramilitary police Land Rovers. They were then taken on a six-hour
non-stop journey to Moshi, arriving there late in the afternoon.
After a brief stopover, the men who had by then been informed that they
were being charged with three counts of robbery with violence and one
of murder, were further driven for an hour to the Kilimanjaro
International Airport police station. Here, they were locked up in
three cells, each holding four suspects.
Their family members claim that the 12 were tortured for the five days
they were held at the police station. All this time, they were not
allowed to meet their lawyers or relatives.
When they were arraigned in court on January 24, the magistrate, the
men's lawyers and relatives were shocked at the suspects' poor state
of health. All of them limped into the courtroom.
The suspects - some of them in torn and bloodied clothes - were
paraded in front of the Moshi district magistrate's court where
journalists took their pictures. They were then remanded at Moshi's
Karanga prison where they have been held since.
On March 24, the suspects were brought to the same court under heavy
police escort.
Fifteen relatives, including the wives and mothers of some of the men,
waited for them at the court with loads of food and a change of
clothes, but they were initially not allowed to talk to them until the
magistrate intervened.
The regional Field Force Unit boss, a Mr Mbise, ordered the closure of
both sides of the road as the Kenyans were ferried to court. As the
three vehicles sped into the district court, Mr Mbise, cautioned Kenyan
journalists against taking pictures or even entering the courtroom. A
white Toyota Land Cruiser in which the 12 men had been brought to court
backed up to the entrance and the defendants were herded into the court
as over 10 heavily-armed Field Force Unit officers watched with their
fingers on the triggers of their firearms.
All other people scheduled to appear before the two magistrates were
kept out of the court premises until the "dangerous" suspects were
loaded back into the white vehicle and driven away.
Protests from the journalists that they had the permission of the Moshi
resident magistrate, Mr Herbert George, to cover the proceedings in the
court premises fell on deaf ears.
It took the 12 men's lawyers, Mr Loomu Ojare and Mr Median Mwale's
intervention to scare away the police officers from the court
precincts.
By then the suspects had appeared before Mr George and then before his
colleague, Mr A. E. Temu, and had been driven back to Karanga jail.
filla...@yahoo.com
Jonny
Do you think what the police/ army did is right?
filla...@yahoo.com
people are tired of this kind of things that's why if you are caught
stealing they kill you right away and not wait untill the court proves
you guilty.Take in considerations also very few policy/army officers
knows human right /citizen laws.They think when they handcuff you is
when you are becoming their exercising ground.