Police officers in Kiminini, Trans Nzoia county, have arrested three people allegedly found in possession of tyres believed to have been vandalised from vehicles the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives used during a raid at Governor George Natembeya's home.

According to Kiminini Sub-County Police Commander John Onditi, the trio were arrested in a rental house within Kiminini trading centre, where the two tyres were recovered.

The police boss said the arrests followed weeks of investigations after the May 19 incident, which saw five EACC vehicles vandalised by angry youths who showed up at Natembeya’s residence in the Milimani area on the outskirts of Kitale town during the raid.

He noted that locals played a key role in helping the police identify the suspects. Police believe the tyres were to be sold to unsuspecting members of the public as secondhand.

“The arrest was made possible by members of the public who gave our officers some intelligence. We acted on the intelligence and managed to arrest the three with complete tyres in a house. We suspect that the three were looking for customers to buy the tyres,” Onditi told in an exclusive interview.

Those arrested were identified as Nickson Mutuku, Jacob Wekesa and Kevin Wasike.

The suspects are expected to be arraigned at the Kitale Law Courts to face charges of handling stolen property or goods.

"It is either the three vandalised the EACC vehicles or they bought the tyres from the vandals with the intention of resale at a profit. Either way, it is an offence, and they will be charged with handling stolen goods. These are accomplices of criminals," the police boss said.

Onditi also urged members of the public to volunteer more information that could lead to the arrest of more suspects in the vandalism incident.

The latest development comes as a breakthrough in the probe over chaotic scenes witnessed as the EACC raided Natembeya’s home.

EACC said the raid was part of their investigations into alleged corruption linked to the governor over several county tenders amounting to KSh 1.4 billion.

Natembeya has since been arraigned in court, where orders were issued blocking him from accessing his office at the county headquarters in Kitale town for 60 days to allow the conclusion of the ongoing probe.

However, the governor later secured orders stopping the corruption case.

Earlier, reported that three close allies of Governor Natembeya who had been arrested over their role in the chaos witnessed during the raid at his home in Kitale had been freed on bail.

The three, Sinyereri Member of County Assembly (MCA) John Makhanu, Protocol Officer in the Office of the Governor, Frank Wabwire and former Motosiet MCA Bernard Aliang'ana were accused of damaging EACC vehicles.

They were released on a KSh 100,000 cash bail or a KSh 500,000 bond.

Source: TUKO.co.ke