[SIZE=7]Standard Media Group Boss Arrested With Explosive in Nairobi Church[/SIZE]
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[li]By MAUREEN NJERI on 19 December 2022 [/li][/ul]
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The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), on Monday, December 19, sought to detain Laban Cliff Onserio for five days to allow the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) to investigate a case where he was arrested with an explosive inside his car.
According to guards, Mr Onserio had parked his car at the facility to attend the Solfest Music Festival at the KICC and only came to pick it up on Sunday morning while visibly drunk.
“His car was parked at level two, but he went up to level three where he started hitting on a woman who was in the company of other people.
An altercation ensued and he started telling them that he is a soldier from the British Army hence untouchable,” recalled one of the guards who was on duty at the time. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Mr Onserio, a former Deputy Director of Communications at State House’s Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) was arrested on Sunday morning at Nairobi’s Holy Family Basilica basement (2) by detectives after the grenade was found in his car by officers who had been called in by the church’s guards to respond to an altercation that involved him.
The cathedral runs a commercial parking facility that is manned by a private security company on a 24-hour basis.
Detectives accused the former NTV anchor of failing to declare to the security guards that he was in possession of the flash-bang training system grenade.
https://www.kenyans.co.ke/files/styles/article_inner_mobile/public/images/media/Standard%20Media%20Group%20boss%20poses%20for%20a%20photo%20at%20a%20past%20event.jpg?itok=bF5T9jy3[ATTACH=full]485750[/ATTACH]
Standard Media Group boss poses for a photo at a past event
He also reportedly failed to provide a certificate to show that he legally owned the grenade, according to the prosecutor who arraigned him at the Kahawa Courts.
The report further added that the journalist could not provide satisfactory reasons why he was in possession of the flash-bang grenade.
"The respondent was arrested by a multi-agency team who responded at the scene after receiving information about a terror threat.
“He had not made a declaration to the security guards that he was in possession of the Flashbang training system grenade,” the report detailed.
DCI further accused Onserio of illegally accruing the grenade in 2021, from a British national currently working with an airline company in Kenya.
He was suspected of being in possession of more flash-bang grenades, prompting the investigating team to require more time to obtain a search warrant.
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It was also speculated that the journalist had associates, and the detectives and security agencies within and outside the country launched a manhunt for the said persons.
“The explosive device recovered has been forwarded to the Bomb disposal and hazardous unit to be forensically examined and reports are yet to be obtained and analysed,” the report detailed.
In addition, his cell phones were forwarded to the ICT laboratory for forensic examination, and analysis to determine whether there were any links to terrorism.
In related news, ATPU detectives are holding a 33-year-old man who circulated a video tape of himself dressed in full military uniform.
In the video that he circulated on social media, Moses Mwenda Karoti who is expected in court today was impersonating a military officer based in Garissa.
He was arrested on Saturday morning and the uniform recovered at his hideout.
