The police and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers on Wednesday engaged in a tussle over the storage of game trophies.
The two differed on who should keep the elephant tusks presented to the court as exhibit.
Whereas the police claimed that they are entitled to keep all court exhibits, KWS on their part pointed out that they are legally entitled to keep all game trophies.
Police officer Jeremiah Sakiti wanted the tusks to be stored at Mairo-Inya Police Station in Nyandarua County.
On the other side, KWS officer Charles Mugambi asked the court to allow them to store the tusks at the office at Rumuruti, Laikipia County.
“KWS is the custodian of all game trophies and therefore I would like to request the court to allow that the trophies be kept at our station in Rumuruti,” said Mugambi.
Nyahururu Resident Magistrate James Wanyanga interved into their arguments stating that the tusks should remain in Nyahuhuru.
“I can see that two government agencies are disagreeing on who should keep the exhibits. I, therefore, order that the trophies be kept at the nearest KWS station which is in Nyahururu since the court has no facility to store such exhibits,” he ruled.
The tusks were retrieved from a suspect, David Mwangi Ndegwa at Karampton trading centre in Ndaragwa, Nyahururu County.
The tusks, 89 kgs, were seized and the suspect arrested on Monday.