Puzzle over Artur airport escape

Standard, Kenya
July 15 2006

By Biketi Kickechi and Patrick Mathangani

The baffling escape of the so-called Artur brothers from the fiercely
guarded Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 8 yesterday
came under scrutiny at the Commission of Inquiry investigating the
Armenian saga.

The Commission heard that police were instructed to close the airport’s
main gates moments after the Arturs drew guns at a charging crowd,
but the brothers still fled.

An inspector of police stationed at the airport during the incident
on the evening of Thursday, June there were more than 50 officers on
duty at the time.

Inspector Stephen Kithinji said he received frantic instructions on
police radio to have the gates closed, and relayed the orders to an
officer manning the entrance.

But when the gates were closed and vehicles searched, there was no
trace of the Arturs, said the officer who manned the gate, Constable
David Yator Kiprotich.

Earlier, the commission was told the escape puzzled senior officers
and angered Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, who demanded
to know how the Arturs drove for a kilometer, to the gate, without
being arrested.

Asked to explain how the escape could have occurred with gates closed,
Kithinji replied: "I can’t tell, my Lords."

Kithinji was being cross-examined by Ms Jane Ondieki, lawyer for
suspended CID director Joseph Kamau, who wanted to know how the Arturs
could have evaded the dragnet.

Kamau was suspended on June 12, four days after the Arturs breached
security at the airport by drawing guns at a crowd. They had refused
to pay duty for goods their guests had brought into the country.

Former police commander Shedrach Kiruki chairs the commission,
sitting at Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

Yesterday, Kiprotich said the Officer Commanding Station, a Mr Gikonyo,
later joined him and they engaged in a fruitless search for the Arturs
at the airport.

Kithinji said when he attempted to persuade Margaryan to pay duty
for the seven CCTV cameras and a receiver, the latter said he could
not pay duty for "such small items".

He said Margaryan boasted that he was a VIP investor who never paid
duty for his containers entering the country.

The Artur brothers left the airport after they had allegedly snatched
goods without paying tax and whipped out pistols from holsters tucked
on their hips to scare away furious members of the public.

Police officers based at the airport continued giving contradictory
accounts of what transpired at the baggage hall.

Two officers, Josphat Kirui and Geoffrey Muthama, said they were at
the baggage hall contrary to statements by other witnesses that they
were no where near there during the commotion between Margaryan and
the customs officers.

The two officers said they shielded the brothers from a hostile crowd
of about 300 people and escorted them to the car park.

"Two white people who were in the company of the Artur brothers drew
pistols at the car park," said Kirui.

Their story was the complete opposite of that narrated by their
immediate boss, Sergeant Everlyne Awonda who said Artur Margaryan
drew out his gun as he exited the baggage hall.

Nambale and Ochieng’ had earlier said Margaryan drew out two pistols
as he stepped out of the hall to scare away the hostile crowd.

Muthama told the Commission that Artur Margaryan was spoiling for
a fight while the crowd was baying for his blood, that is why they
escorted them.

He however explained that they did not arrest them after saving them
from the mob because they were known and could be caught later.

Others present at the baggage hall have consistently said Margaryan
walked into the hall accompanied by a bodyguard who took away the
goods.