City tycoon Jimi Wanjigi ‘once held a police inspector post’
Businessman Jimi Wanjigi, who is charged with illegal possession of firearms, was once a police reservist and kept his guns after being dismissed from the service, police say.
After being fired from the service for “threatening other people”, the businessman was stripped of police powers and ordered to surrender the guns and bullets.
Later, he convinced senior police officers to return his weapons.
Mr Wanjigi who is to appear in court Monday, denies the charges, saying he has licences for the guns police officers took from his Muthaiga home during a raid in October 2017.
The guns included four Glock pistols, a Mini Archer rifle, a Norinco CQ rifle and a Smith Wesson pistol.
Also found in the house were 688 bullets, authorities say.
RIFLES TOO POWERFUL
Police say the two rifles are too powerful to be in civilian hands.
Mr Wanjigi might not appear in court but could send his lawyer Nelson Havi to represent him.
Mr Havi appeared at the Nyeri Magistrate’s Court to take plea on his behalf in March.
Six years after he got his weapons back, Mr Wanjigi was embroiled in yet another dispute with unnamed people, who accused him of threatening to shoot them, police say.
His guns were confiscated once again and his certificate of civilian firearm cancelled, but he still got them back.
At the time of his dismissal as a police reservist, Mr Wanjigi held the rank of inspector.
And, in a new twist to the plot, the prosecution will be aiming to show the magistrate that the businessman and political activist does not fit the risk profile of someone who needs a gun to protect himself “because he lives in one of the safest places in Nairobi County”.
Mr Wanjigi’s home is surrounded by highly secured premises, including ambassadors’ residences, some of which are protected by heavily armed guards in armoured vehicles.
Police say Mr Wanjigi is still holding several firearms illegally as some of the guns believed to be in his possession were not at his Muthaiga residence when officers raided it last year.
Two of the pistols police took away from his house were later found to belong to other people.