- The attendants panicked and scampered for safety while raising an alarm alerting police who had parked near the facility.
- This prompted the rider to jump onto the motorcycle and rode off leaving his weapon at the scene, police said.
Image: THE STAR
Detectives are looking for a man who accidentally dropped his pistol at a petrol station along Outering Road, Nairobi.
The suspect on Monday night rode to the petrol station to have his motorcycle filled up when the incident happened, police said.
Attendants at the petrol station said a motorcyclist wearing a black jacket stopped there and while alighting a Falcon pistol with seven bullets dropped.
The attendants panicked and scampered for safety while raising the alarm, alerting police who had parked near the facility.
This prompted the rider to jump onto the motorcycle and ride off leaving his weapon at the scene, police said.
The officers collected the firearm for tests and analysis.
It is believed the weapon has been used in separate attacks in the city.
Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei said they were looking for the motorcyclist for grilling.
“We also want to know if the weapon has been used in any form of crime,” he said.
They also want to know the ownership of the weapon.
Police say they are paying more attention on motorcycle riders over the rise of crime in parts of the city.
Some of the serious crimes being reported are perpetrated by thugs on motorcycles.
According to police, the riders usually conceal number plates of their motorcycles to evade notice.
Major operations are ongoing in various parts of the city and other major urban areas to address the menace, police said.
Police say dozens of suspects have since been arrested in the operations as the exercise continues.
Some have cases pending in courts, others have been killed in the process while others are under probe.
Meanwhile, police are investigating an incident in which a 12-year-old boy was found dead after suspected suicide in Mowlem area, Nairobi.
The boy had accompanied his parents to church on Sunday when he sneaked out and went back to their house where he died by suicide.
They had gone to the church within Kariobangi but later he was found missing, police said.
The mother traced her son back to home where she found the main gate locked from the inside. Together with neighbours they peeped through and saw the boy's body dangling from the water tower stand with a rope around his neck.
The parents said the deceased had expressed his unwillingness to go back to school in Dandora where he was schooling.