Detectives launched investigations after two licensed firearm holders separately reported the loss of their pistols in Nairobi.
The incidents were reported separately, prompting police investigations amid fears they may be used to commit crimes. They are not related.
The team hunting for the weapons said they were pursuing good leads and hoped they would recover them.
In the first
incident, a man said he lost his pistol and a laptop, which he believed had been
stolen from his vehicle while running errands across Nairobi.
The complainant, a businessman and resident of Syokimau, told police he left his home at about 6 a.m. on Saturday, driving his wife’s Toyota Harrier.
He said he placed a bag containing a Lenovo laptop and his licensed Glock 19 pistol, loaded with a magazine containing 15 rounds of ammunition, on the vehicle’s back seat before setting off.
According to the police, the complainant made several stops during the day, including at Sarit Centre, Total Westlands, Yaya Centre, Kilimani Mall, and later G-Spot, where he intended to work on his laptop with a friend.
It was at the final stop that he discovered the bag containing both the laptop and firearm was missing.
The businessman initially checked the vehicle for signs of a break-in but found none. He later discovered that the vehicle had a faulty central locking system, a defect he said he was unaware of because he rarely uses his wife’s car.
Police visited the scene, documented the incident and commenced investigations to establish where and how the firearm and laptop were stolen.
Authorities are also working to recover the missing firearm, given the security risk posed by a weapon falling into unauthorised hands.
On Saturday, police said they were investigating an alleged theft of a licensed Glock 19 pistol after a businessman reported that one of two women he had met in the city centre had made away with the firearm.
The incident was reported on Saturday, prompting an investigation.
According to police, the complainant, a businessman based in Garissa, had travelled to Nairobi three days earlier.
The victim is a licensed gun holder. He told investigators that at about 11 p.m. on Friday, he met two women along Wabera Street.
The trio later drove in his white Toyota Voxy.
Police said the man alighted along Tom Mboya Street, leaving one of the women seated in the front passenger seat while the other remained outside the open passenger door.
After exchanging contacts with one of the women, he walked away, leaving them with the vehicle.
He later checked the glove compartment, where he said he had kept his licensed Glock 19 pistol, only to discover it was missing.
According to the police, one of the women allegedly told the complainant that the other woman had removed the pistol from the glove compartment, concealed it in her clothing and left with it.
The complainant reported the matter to Central
Police Station, where the woman was taken into custody to assist detectives
with investigations.
A search was staged at the woman’s homes in vain.
The missing weapon was later recovered in the car and stashed under a seat on Sunday morning.
The car was detained at the station after the driver reported he had found the weapon in a search.
The weapon was also kept at the station pending investigation, police said.
