MARSABIT, Kenya, Feb, 8 – Uran ward member of County Assembly in Marsabit County Halkano Konso was on Monday handed over to the Anti-Terror Police Unit, shortly after surrendering to police.
An arrest warrant had earlier been issued against him after he went into hiding.
Konso on Monday presented himself to the Marsabit DCI offices and was interrogated for hours on his alleged role of arming locals in the conflict hit areas of Turbi and Sololo.
The legislator however denied the charges.
Anti-Terror police are now expected to detain Konso and interrogate him further before he is arraigned alongside four others.
Questions however abound why the legislator has been detained by the ATPU.
Police day the legislator has information on alleged terror cells operating in the vast county saying he should be considered, “armed and dangerous.”
“Terror cells are emerging here, and we are going to deal with them because we have intelligence and we will arrest everybody promoting war-like activities in this area,” said Noah Mwavinda, the Eastern Regional Police commander.
A vehicle under his command was over the weekend impounded by police and four suspects arrested for allegedly arming locals.
Another vehicle suspected to be ferrying firearms escaped a police dragnet but authorities have since launched a manhunt.
According to detectives, the legislator allegedly used a county government issued vehicle to transport firearms and ammunitions.
Four people were arrested in an operation conducted by police from the Border Patrol unit (BPU) and an AK 47 rifle with ten rounds of ammunition recovered.
Two of the passengers according to police were later identified as Marsabit County Government employees.
“BPU officers who were on targeted patrol following a tip-off from members of the local community, spotted a county government vehicle registration number 10CG016A suspected to be distributing supplies to bandits in the thickets of Funan Qumbi,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a Tweet.
Konso had gone into hiding after learning police were hot on his trail.
The County government of Marsabit in a statement acknowledged the incident in which one of their vehicles attached to the department of Water, Environment and Natural resources had been impounded at the Turbi police station.
The County government said the vehicle was being used to ferry a driver and water technician on field assignment.
They were to repair boreholes in Bori, Badanrero and Elle Borr areas on Friday.
“We are yet to obtain information on the reasons why the vehicle and our officers were detained. We are however in communication with the Kenya police officers based in Turbi and we are seeking updates and interventions from the county security team, ” reads the statement.
On Monday, Marsabit County Governor Mohammud Ali distanced his administration from the allegations, saying they too are demanding answers from the DCI on the real state of affairs.
“We are relying on investigations from the DCI on what happened. They should not lean on one side because there are certain national government employees that are taking part in politics and are not doing what they need to do. DCI should not allow to be used,” the County Chief said.
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