African News Dimension, South Africa
June 10 2006

Kenya: Artur brothers arrested after airport gun drama

June 10, 2006,

By ANDnetwork .com

Alleged Armenian brothers Artur Margaryan and Artur Sagarsyan drew
guns and triggered a terror alert at the Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport (JKIA) on Thursday night.

And police yesterday afternoon recovered eight guns and 100 rounds of
ammunition in the compound of the brothers’ residence in Nairobi’s
up-market Runda estate.

The same afternoon in a dramatic turn of events the men who recently
addressed a news conference at the airport’s VIP Lounge, were back at
JKIA to face deportation.

The men who have previously swaggered into and out of the airport
without restriction were locked in the Prohibited Immigrants room to
await deportation.

That triggered fresh controversies for their acts were clearly of a
criminal nature which should have seen them arraigned, but they were
treated as if they had entered Kenya unlawfully.

That prompted the Leader of the Official Opposition, Mr Uhuru
Kenyatta, to accuse the Government of covering-up the illegal acts of
the Armenians.

The Liberal Democratic Party chairman, Mr David Musila, asked
President Kibaki to tell Kenyans the true story of the Armenian. It
emerged yesterday that the brothers had unrestricted access to
Kenya’s biggest airport given them by a senior Kenya Airport
Authority (KAA) official without surrendering their guns.

Margaryan and Sagarsyan forced their way out of the airport with over
12 bags they yanked from the baggage’s conveyor belt before they
could be opened up for inspection.

Investigations by the Saturday Standard revealed that the passes for
the brothers were issued on February 10 while the other three for
their “aides” were issued on Thursday morning hours before they
turned up at the airport to receive their “brother” and “sister”
from Dubai.

The man and woman arrived with the bags with unidentified cargo and
it was on their arrival that the airport drama began. Sagarsyan and
Margaryan were allowed into the airport without screening, a
privilege the KAA security booklet last revised in 2004 says is
reserved for President and Cabinet members. The only other category
of people exempted from this stringent rule is foreign envoys, and
special groups who must be escorted to the plane’s elevator by armed
police.

When the police later opened one of the bags following a commando
raid at their plush Runda home, they found several fake local,
foreign, diplomatic and Government vehicle registration plates.

They also found black balaclavas, the kind of which the hooded
policemen who raided the Standard and KTN offices donned. The bag was
also stuffed with pistol holsters and camouflage military jackets.

In the compound were 11 cars, some bearing GK plates. The vehicles
included a BMW, three Toyota Harriers and other luxurious saloon
cars.

An official Criminal Investigation Department (CID) letter granting
Margaryan the powers of a police officer was also found in the house.

The police team also seized three computers and videotapes, which
insiders revealed were similar to those taken away by the police
during the March 2 media raid on Standard Group offices.

The criminal acts by the Armenians are bound to lower the rating of
Kenya’s airport security. And Kenya will have to give a written
explanation to the International Civil Aviation Authority within
seven days for the acts of the foreigners were openly kid-gloved by
security forces.

After hours of procrastination and a ping-pong game of conflicting
orders, the police moved in.

Source : Eastandard