Foreigner charged over drone at DP Ruto’s Karen residence

A British national who was arrested over a drone incident at Deputy President William Ruto’s residence in Karen was today charged at a Milimani law court.

Piotr Lukasz Litwiniuk, a citizen of Poland, was charged with four counts; importation of unmanned aircraft without a permit issued by the authority, operating an unmanned aircraft system without authorisation, operating unmanned aircraft system without pilot licence and failing to register an unmanned aircraft.

He was accused of importing the unmanned aircraft system – Mavic Air2 drone model number MA2UE3W without a permit issued by KCAA – on January 7 at Moi international Airport in Mombasa.

The tourist is also charged with operating an unmanned aircraft system without authorisation from Kenya Civil Aviation Authority on March 29 in Karen, Nairobi.

The court heard that on March 29, GSU officers manning the Deputy President’s private residence within Karen spotted a drone flying over the residence.

They monitored it as it retreated to a neighbour’s compound.

The incident was reported to Hardy police station and investigations were conducted and the matter was later referred to the DCIO’s office who later visited the scene together with the OCS for Hardy police station.

They discovered a drone at the DP’s neighbour which belonged to the suspect who was in Kenya for holiday.

Litwiniuk denied the charges before Milimani chief magistrate Martha Mutuku and was released on a cash bail of Sh200,000 or a bond of Sh500,000.

Nairobi county regional commander Augustine Nthenge said the incident was reported by Mrs. Rachel Ruto on Monday at around 3pm after she witnessed a drone hovering over their residence.

“It strayed into the compound in Hardy. She called the police and responded very fast and confiscated the drone. Investigations are ongoing,” said Nthumbi.

The case will be mentioned after two weeks.