By Augustine Ehikioya
Towards unraveling firearms mystery in Seychelles, its government has invited Kenyan forensic ballistic experts.
With the successful operationalization of the DCI-National Forensic Laboratory, the facility has proved to be an effective tool in solving complex crimes, not only in Kenya but across the region.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and made available to Security Watch Africa (SWA) on Monday.
The statement said “On a request from the Government of Seychelles, experts drawn from our Forensic Ballistics lab and the Bomb Disposal & Harzadous materials unit are currently in Seychelles on an international assignment.
“This is after local authorities in the archipelagic island country consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, arrested a suspect with a cache of different types of firearms and an assortment of over 35,000 different calibre of ammunition.
“Following the recovery, the experts were invited to examine the cache forensically, in a bid to unravel the country of origin, manufacturer, make, type and among others determine whether the firearms had prior to their recovery been used to commit crimes.
“The professional firearm examiners holding local and international certification, immediately embarked on the exercise by documenting all the firearms and ammunition,” it stated.
The statement went on “Currently, the sleuths are test-firing the firearms before returning back home to conduct a comprehensive analysis at the ballistics lab, and prepare a detailed report to be handed over to authorities in Seychelles.”
It noted that the detectives were received by the country’s Director of Criminal Investigations, Jefrey Antoine.
The statement added “As the world migrates towards scientific crime resolution methods, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations thanks the government for investing in the state of the art facility and building the capacity of our officers to resolve crimes that are complex in nature.
“This puts the DCI at per with established investigative agencies, across the world.”