Police could have made a major breakthrough in the Sh39 billion fake arms tender following the arrest of a Kenyan pilot said to be a principal player.
Subow Mohamed Ahmed, a pilot with a local aviation firm based at Wilson Airport, was nabbed by detectives on Saturday upon his arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Detectives probing the multi-billion military equipment scandal on Sunday confirmed to the Star that Ahmed's arrest would now expedite the ongoing investigations.
An officer aware of the progress of the investigations said the pilot had been on the police radar for the last one month after the scandal exploded.
The pilot had allegedly flown in from a Middle East country amid reports he had been hiding in one of the countries there where his close relative works as a Kenyan diplomat.
“He was definitely a man under the radar. We had a red alert on him. He had managed to extend his stay abroad to evade arrest but he actually knew his days were numbered,” the officer said.
According to a preliminary analysis by the detectives, Ahmed was part of the masterminds of the scam that led to the arrest of former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa on February 13.
Police arrested Echesa moments after he left Deputy President William Ruto's office where the deal was supposed to be signed.
Other suspects who have been arraigned alongside Echesa include Daniel Otieno Omondi aka General Juma, Clifford Okoth Onyango aka Paul and Kennedy Oyoo Mboya.
Ahmed played the role of an aviation expert and posed as a military pilot throughout the negotiations of the fake tender with two Polish businessmen identified as Mustafa Mamdough and Stanley Kozlowski.
The pilot, according to the investigators, travelled with Echesa and visited American company Eco Advanced Technologies' assembly plant in Poland.
Kozlowski, in his statement to the police, has said Echesa was accompanied by a man who had a lot of technical background on the aviation industry including impeccable know-how on military drones.
Police are likely to produce Ahmed in court on Monday and request for more time to continue holding him as they seek to interrogate him on what he knows about the deal that exposed the DP's Harambee Annex office.
It emerged on Sunday that he is a renowned pilot within the aviation industry who has been flying VIPs among them key political dignitaries in the country.
Investigations into the scandal were complicated by the murder of Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei, a police officer who was on duty when Echesa, his accomplices and the two foreigners visited Ruto’s office.
Kenei was killed before he went to DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road for questioning. His body was found in his house in Imara Daima Estate, Nairobi.
Edited by R.Wamochie
