A gun dealer who escaped from Karen police station, Nairobi as police booked him following the discovery of a cache of arms and bullets in his house has finally been rearrested.
Shailesh Babubhai Mistry, the Chief Executive Officer at Cateyes Customs Limited, which deals in firearms was arrested within Kasarani estate by police for escaping from lawful custody.
DCI detectives had been looking for him following his dramatic escape that left one officer injured on Thursday, August 1 evening at Karen police station.
Police said a man haunt was launched and following intelligence leads, the escapee was intercepted while driving his vehicle within Kasarani area where he was re-arrested.
Mistry had been arrested earlier in the day at Tamasha Bar and Restaurant within Karen by DCI Karen detectives and escorted to Karen Police station where a search was conducted in his motor vehicle Registration No. KCQ 888N and a cache of weapons were recovered.
Among the recoveries include a Sig Sauer P22 pistol, two Canik pistols with no working parts, six empty pistol magazines, thirty-three .38 special hollow point rounds, forty-three 9mm x 19 rounds, and nine.45 auto rounds, two hundred and three.223 rounds, twelve 357 sig rounds, forty four380 auto rounds, twenty .38 special ARX rounds, twelve .308 win rounds, sixty.470 nitro rounds, one hundred and four 12 gauge short gun rounds and thirty-seven 3006 SPRG rounds.
Later the suspect was escorted to his residence at Southlands Estate Jordan Court House No. 411 and upon search, one Benelli short gun, one hundred and seventy .223 rounds and forty 7.62 x 39 rounds of ammunitions were recovered.
In the process, the suspect produced an expired civilian firearm certificate and was taken back to Karen police station where he was booked in for further processing.
While in the cells, Mistry requested to be escorted to his vehicle that was parked in the station yard to pick up a sweater but in the process, he instead locked himself inside the vehicle.
The station guard rushed to the gate and closed it as he shouted for help to stop the suspect fearing he could cause more harm.
Police said the suspect drove at high speed from the parking lot, hit the gate, and opened it wide open.
He sped off to an unknown destination injuring a constable of police who was at the gate.
No bullets were fired as the drama unfolded.
Details of the car were circulated after the 4 pm drama leading to the arrest.
Immediate man haunt was launched and following intelligence leads, the escapee was intercepted while driving his vehicle within the Kasarani area where he was re-arrested.
A quick search was conducted inside his vehicle where 3 Pistol Magazines, 2 loaded with 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition each and one loaded with 14 rounds of 9mm ammunition were recovered. Additionally, nine slag 12 gauge shotgun ammos were recovered also recovered.
The suspect has been placed in the cells pending arraignment. on Monday.
His arrest comes even after Mistry in October 2022 was charged with obtaining registration of land worth Ksh 600 million by false pretences.
Mistry was accused of willfully procuring for himself the registration of the land situated at Bogani area in Karen, Nairobi County, measuring approximately 4.047 hectares in the name of HELLS Ltd by falsely pretending that he was the genuine owner of the said parcel of land, a fact he knew was false.
Mistry is alleged to have committed the offence on January 1, 1998, at Nairobi land registry, being the director of HELLS limited, with intent to defraud Smeth Valley Limited.
The accused and his company are also charged with forging the certificate of title for the said land purporting it to have been signed and issued by Mohammed Billow Ibrahim, a land Registrar in Nairobi.
It is also alleged that the accused person made the certificate of title without authority on or before 1st January 1998 at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya.
Mistry is further charged with uttering the said certificate of title to a police officer at the DCI Headquarters along Kiambu Road on July 14 2022.
In 2019, his consignment of sophisticated Belgian automatic assault rifles imported into the country was detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for non-compliance.
The consignment of 1,00 FN Scar rifles imported by the dealer were detained on arrival from Belgium following revelations that his license was among the 21-gun dealership and shooting range licenses that had been suspended by the Firearms licensing Board (FLB).
The weapons were meant for a client who later took them.
The FN Scar (Special Operation Forces Combat Assault Rifle) is a 2009 manufactured semi-automatic rifle described as very effective and lethal in combat. Designed in Belgium and manufactured in California, US, it costs about Sh310,000. Other units using the rifle include the US Navy SEALs and US Marines.
insiderbitsnews@gmail.com
