Reuters, UK
June 10 2006
Kenya deports Armenian “mercenaries”
Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:04 AM GMT
By C. Bryson Hull
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya deported two Armenian brothers on Friday
whose swaggering lifestyle turned them into celebrities after they
were accused of being mercenaries involved in a controversial police
raid on media offices.
There have been repeated allegations that the wealthy Armenians,
known for their fleet of luxury cars and flashy jewellery, were
protected by powerful political allies in Kenya.
Police earlier arrested the brothers and seized a Mercedes car with
government plates during a raid on the heavily guarded home of Artur
Margariyan and Arthur Sargsian (Eds: correct) in an elegant Nairobi
suburb. Two lesser known brothers, Arman Damidri and Alexander
Tashchi, were also arrested.
Police sources said they made the arrests after the brothers roughed
up customs officials at Nairobi airport.
“They were supposed to pay for some items they were carrying and they
got into a scuffle before leaving. They were followed home,” said a
police official who asked not to be named.
The government later declared all four persona non grata, and said
they were being deported following a “serious breach of airport
security”.
LUXURY CARS
The private Citizen television station earlier showed police seizing
a dozen car license plates, including some supposed to be issued only
to diplomats, during the raid. Among more than 10 luxury cars at
their home, a Lexus truck could also be seen with red and blue police
lights in the grille.
The police official said guns, machetes and bulletproof vests were
recovered.
The brothers burst onto Kenyan front pages in March after opposition
politician Raila Odinga accused them of being mercenaries behind a
raid on a major Kenyan media house that drew a storm of domestic and
international criticism.
The brothers denied Odinga’s charges.
The raid by police commandos on KTN television and its sister
newspaper the Standard was seen as a low point in the three-year rule
of President Mwai Kibaki, already suffering from a sharp fall in
popularity and major corruption scandals.
The Kenyan government justified the raid by saying journalists had
been bribed to plant stories that threatened national security, but
never clarified what the stories were.
The government promised an investigation into the Armenians, but has
never made results public.
The brothers have told Reuters they are businessmen based in Dubai
with interests in import-export, property development, a nightclub
and gold and diamond trading.
They have become fixtures in cartoons and gossip columns despite
their repeated assertions that they are respectable businessmen
prepared to invest large sums in Kenya.