Questions have emerged over the security of licensed firearms after detectives discovered that a pistol recovered from a suspected robber in Machakos County was registered to Court of Appeal Judge Aggrey Muchelule.
The firearm was recovered following a police operation in Joska, where detectives tracked down Vincent Ochieng, a suspect linked to the armed robbery at Chaiiwali Café in Spring Valley, Nairobi. Ochieng was fatally shot during an exchange of fire with officers after allegedly resisting arrest. Police recovered a Beretta pistol, ammunition and other items from the scene.
What initially appeared to be a routine recovery took an unexpected turn when forensic and ballistic examinations reportedly showed that the Beretta pistol was legally registered to Justice Muchelule.
The finding immediately raised questions about how a firearm belonging to a senior judge could end up in the possession of a suspected criminal.
According to investigators, the judge was contacted after the registration details of the weapon were confirmed. Muchelule is said to have expressed shock upon learning that the pistol had been recovered from the suspect. He reportedly told detectives that the firearm had been kept in a secure locker and that he had no knowledge it was missing.
The judge further indicated that he only became aware of the disappearance of the weapon when police informed him after the July 14 operation. This has left investigators trying to establish exactly when the firearm went missing and how it found its way into criminal hands.
The case has now opened a fresh line of investigation for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Detectives are working to reconstruct the timeline of the weapon’s disappearance and determine whether it was stolen, illegally transferred or obtained through the involvement of other individuals.
Investigators are also examining the possibility of an inside job, an unnoticed break-in, or a wider criminal network that targets legally owned firearms.
Such networks, if they exist, could pose a major security risk by supplying weapons to criminal gangs while making it difficult for authorities to trace how the firearms changed hands.
The incident has sparked wider concerns about the monitoring and safeguarding of licensed firearms, particularly those owned by prominent public officials. Security experts say the case highlights the importance of regular audits and checks to ensure registered weapons remain in the possession of their legal owners.
Detectives are expected to focus on both the robbery case and the mystery surrounding the missing firearm, with authorities hoping to uncover how the weapon moved from a licensed owner’s locker to the hands of a suspected armed robber.