Man in possession of 100 bullets charged in Maralal

A 25 year old man who was arrested with 100 bullets at Kisima trading center in Samburu was arraigned before a Maralal court on Monday.

Lelekupa Toloris pleaded not guilty to the charges of being in illegal possession of 100 rounds of ammunition of 7.62 *51mm.

The circumstances reportedly raised reasonable presumption that the said ammunition was to be used in a manner prejudicial to public order.

Appearing before Principal Magistrate Richard Koech, the accused also denied being in illegal possession of a military jungle bag.

The case has been scheduled for a mention on October 14, 2019 before the court for a pre-bail hearing.

The court ordered that the accused to be detained for seven days until the mention date.

The case has been scheduled for hearing on November 11 before Koech.

The law requires that a person convicted for the offense of being in possession of ammunition without a certificate for a weapon which is prohibited is to serve not less than 7 years imprisonment.

Last month, the government  gave all persons holding illegal guns and ammunition until September 30, 2019 to surrender them to local authorities.

The government had seized 8000 firearms from civilians over the last year, which would be destroyed by KNFP and the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA), in accordance with the provisions of the Nairobi protocol on Small Arms and Light weapons.

The operation was part of the Interior Ministry’s move to deal with a surge in gun-related crime in the country.