Court releases businessman found with a cache of firearms on bail

A businessman who was arrested after 22 guns and 565 rounds of ammunition were recovered in his office in Kilimani, Nairobi, was Friday released on Sh300,000 cash bail.

This was after Ken Wycliffe Lugwili was arraigned at the Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu.

The court was informed that Mr Lugwili, a firearm dealer is sick, with his lawyers led by Simon Mburu and Anthony Kogo opposing the  prosecution plea to detain him for five days to allow for the completion of investigations into the matter arguing that their client isn't a flight risk.

In her ruling ,  Chief Magistrate Diana Mochache ruled that the prosecution had not demonstrated how the accused would interfere with forensic investigations.

The magistrate directed that the accused to always present himself to the investigating officers when required.

“He shall report to the Investigating Officer when directed and not more than twice a week,” the magistrate said.

 In their plea, the prosecution told the court that they will seek to determine whether Lugwili is a licensed civilian firearm holder, whether his two companies SILKEN security firm and VIC-Technology Limited are licensed to deal in firearms and whether the recovered firearms are registered with the Firearms Licensing Board.

The officers further want to analyse his phones to probe the communication between Lugwili and other persons as they believe he could be having connections to some organised criminal groups or terror groups.

Further, they want to analyze Lugwili’s financial records to determine whether there are any links between him and gun smugglers or terror networks.

The case will be mentioned on July 7.