Sonko: Police ignored Westgate evidence
Three houses in the high-end Westlands, Highridge and Parklands estates hosted several Pakistani nationals suspected to have been involved in the Westgate Mall attack.
They had grenades and other explosives.
Police in Gigiri and Police headquarters were alerted of the curious presence of the foreigners, but did not act, claims a Senator.
The Pakistani nationals held several meetings at a Club in Westlands’ Diamond Plaza known to host erotic Indian dances.
The owner of the houses is a tycoon in Parklands and is believed to have deep networks within the Kenya Police.
One of those who met the suspicious Pakistani nationals is a close relative of controversial oil dealer and is accorded heavy security by about six Administration Police officers.
This is just a portion of the evidence Nairobi Senator Mike Mbuvi Sonko produced to NairobiNews to prove that he informed police of the dealings by the Pakistanis, prior to the attack.
The Senator also claims about four officers attached to both the Kenya Police and Diplomatic Police were withdrawn from the Westgate Mall during the week it was raided by terrorists.
A police officer at Gigiri Police Station confirmed the abrupt security change.
In a video where he gave testimony and which NairobiNews has seen, the police officer talks of a calculated cover up of the activities of the Pakistanis whom he says enjoy police protection.
“We were surprised at the withdrawal of the officers at Westgate. The place always has officers for twenty hours,” the officer said.
Details of Sonko’s evidence will find their way into the Senate in form of a motion that calls for removal of senior police officers suspected to have been lax.
Among those targeted for removal is the Director of National Intelligence Service Michael Gichangi.
In an interview with NairobiNews, Sonko claimed some informers told him of the Pakistanis and their dangerous weapons and even went to the club where some of them were believed to frequent.
“A Pakistani lady confided in me and begged me to investigate on my own the behaviour of the foreigners. She gave me the names of the characters who had kidnapped some Pakistani girls who entertained patrons at the Diamond Plaza Club,” said Mr Sonko.
According to the senator, the lady had been held hostage in one of the houses by one of the Pakistanis after they disagreed on payment of her dance services at the Club.
She says she was moved from one house to another and that is when she noticed the explosives.