Detectives Nab Four Police Officers in Illegal Arms Deal With Criminals

Nairobi — Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested four police and prison officers accused of betraying their oath by supplying dangerous criminals with firearms and ammunition in a racket that has rocked Kenya’s security sector.

The officers a prison assistant superintendent in Turkana, a corporal attached to Turkana County Police Headquarters, an armourer at the Central Firearms Stores in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, and a constable serving as a storeman at the same depot — were picked up in separate sting operations mounted between Thursday and Saturday.

Investigators say the suspects had been diverting state-owned weapons and ammunition to criminal gangs, fuelling a cycle of banditry, robberies and violence.

In one operation, an officer was intercepted in Nairobi while allegedly transporting more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition destined for another senior officer.

Another was caught with 19 firearm magazines, firing pins, cleaning kits and spent cartridges.

A third was found with a Remington Rand Model 1911 pistol and Ceska firing pins. The coordinated bust followed weeks of profiling and surveillance by the DCI’s elite Operations Support Unit.

DCI Headquarters along Kiambu Road.

“The illegal arms trade is a direct attack on the safety of Kenyans. No one who betrays public trust will be shielded by the uniform,” the National Police Service said in a statement on Saturday.

The four suspects remain in custody and are set to be arraigned on Monday, September 29, 2025, even as detectives widen the net to expose what appears to be a much deeper conspiracy within state security ranks.

For a country battling violent crime and cross-border gun smuggling, the revelation that rogue officers have been arming the very criminals they are meant to fight has sparked fury and renewed calls for a radical purge in the police and prison services.