Photo: Capital FM

Two Iranians charged in a Nairobi court for terror activities in Mombasa June last year.

THE hearing of a case in which two Iranians are charged with keeping explosives was yesterday adjourned. The case will now be heard in Nairobi after a sitting in Mombasa on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ahmad Abolfathi and Sayed Mansouri have denied the charge. The case was adjourned after a deadlock between the state and the defence team over an exhibit register about the movement of the explosive.

The Iranians, through defence Counsel Kiraithe Wandungi, protested when the key witness, Eric Opagal, who is also the investigating officer, introduced the document in court.

Wandungi said the prosecution had not supplied the defence with a copy of the register.

Opagal, in his statement, told the court he travelled to the scene in Mombasa Golf Course at midnight on a police plane together with the Assistant Commissioner of Police.

He said they were led by Ahmad to a spot at the golf course where they found a package wrapped in blue polythene paper bag. The item had been buried in the soil.

"The accused led us to the scene in a thicket. We found a blue polythene paper bag," Opagal said.

Opagal said they secured the site and left. Another team, he said, unearthed the explosive that had been dug in a shallow pit.

Milimani chief magistrate Kiarie Waweru directed the state to furnish the defence with a copy of the exhibit, and adjourned the case till Monday when it will be mentioned.

The court session was conducted in the open on Wednesday at the alleged scene where the explosives were recovered with a taxi driver testifying that he drove the Iranian to various entertainment spots in the city.

The Iranian were released by a magistrate on a Sh 2 million each with a Sh5million surety but was revised by a High court which removed the bond terms.