Police are looking for a man suspected of a terror plot after 400 explosives were found in a Mombasa-bound bus in Nairobi on Wednesday.
The man had declared the explosives to be textbooks when he dropped the two packages at Chania bus company offices, and paid for them to be delivered to Voi.
Central police division commander Patrick Oduma said the man had been dodging investigators.
“When my officers arrived at the bus stop, they asked the attendant to call the number the man had left when he presented the luggage. He told the attendant that he was in Kisumu. One of my officers called him back and he said he was at Githurai,” Mr Oduma said.
Bomb experts who examined the explosives said they could be used to bring down “a big building.”
Mr Oduma said they had not established what the suspect intended to use the explosives for, adding, they could not rule out terrorism.
The explosives were packed in two cartons and covered in white polythene bags.
These types of explosives are commonly used in quarries, but terrorists have, in the past, used them to make bombs.
“We are concerned the sender is hiding his identity and this means the motive is suspicious. And for one to handle these kind of explosives, one must be licensed,” Mr Oduma said.
He added that police were informed about the luggage by people who saw it being off-loaded. “It was brought to the stage by a bus from Tanzania,” the police boss said.
Source: Daily Nation
