Four suspects are cooling their heels behind bars after the court allowed the police to detain them to complete investigations of alleged land grabbing.
According to a defence lawyer Danstan Omari who is involved in the case, the land in question is along Windy Ridge in Karen and is linked to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Omari is representing two of the suspects defended that “These are small people who could not get access to the land owned by the president because it is guarded throughout. They are people who were just walking along the road next to the land and were wrongly arrested on suspicion that they were checking the beacons.”
On the other hand the prosecution accused the supects, Mohamed Muhammud, James Opere, Jonah Tuuko and Samakin Lesingiran of trespassing on the property on January 3, 2022 and planning to grab the land using a fake title.
Nairobi principal magistrate Jane Kamau ruled that “They will be detained at Muthaiga police station until Friday after which they will be released on a police bond of Sh30,000 each to allow police complete investigations,” ruled Magistrate Jane Kamau.
State Prosecutor Fredrick Kimathi also told the court that he believed the suspects were claiming the president’s land using a fake title deed.
“They were arrested by officers from Karen Police Station and after interrogation, there is reasonable suspicion that they are in possession of a forged title which they are using to lure unsuspecting members of the public to buy the land,” he argued.
Investigators believe that the four suspects are agents of an elaborate land-grabbing network.
“It will be appropriate to investigate the motive behind the forcible entry into the land noting that it is a property of a prominent leader who we do not wish to disclose his name due to security reasons,” said investigating officer Lawson Shuma in an affidavit.
The magistrate directed that the matter be mentioned on January 12 for further directions.
