Mandera, Kenya — Five people were on Tuesday arrested in connection with a firearm and several rounds of ammunition that were found in public transport bus.

Officers manning a barrier along Tarbaj Highway intercepted the bus after information it had contraband goods on board. The weapons were found hidden under a passenger seat.

The officers later ordered the driver to head to Tarbaj Police Station where a further search was done.

"It was after the search that a firearm and several rounds of ammunition were recovered hidden under the rear passengers' seats," read the report in the Occurrence Book at the police station of the bus the police said belongs to Legend Company and plying the Nairobi-Mandera route.

Apart from the AK 47 assault rifle and 201 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammunitions, the officers also found a fixed butt stock but which did not have a serial number, four empty magazines, two bolt head carriers, also without serial numbers.

Those arrested include the driver and conductor of the bus. The management of the bus in Mandera said the items belonged to a passenger who had boarded the vehicle at Kotulo stage in Mandera County. He was identified and arrested alongside the company's four staff members.

The bus that was carrying 57 passengers had left Mandera town for Nairobi in the morning. It has been detained at Tarbaj Police Station in Wajir County.