The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) has arrested Eugene Barikana, a member of Parliament from the lower chamber over illegal possession of arms.
A communique available on RIB Twitter handle indicates that Barikana was arrested shortly after resigning from his functions as a lawmaker.
“Upon his arrest, Barikana said that he used to have the arms when he was living with personnel of the Rwanda defence force but he forgot to hand them over afterwards,” part of the RIB communique reads.
RIB specified that the firearms in question consist of one Grenada and one magazine of SMG (AK 47).
Barikana is detained at Remera Police station in Gasabo district pending further investigation.
The law relating to illegal possession of arms provides in article 7, that if found guilty, a person who possesses arms illegally is sentenced to 1-2 years in jail on top of Rwf 1-2 million fine or either of the two.
Eugene Barikana is seasoned politician who served in local and central government. He was in his second term as lawmaker.
