Kenyan police score own-goal as thieves steal guns during football match

Three rifles and nearly two dozen rounds were pinched from the check-post Tuesday evening in Nandi, in Kenya

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byAbdulateef Ahmed

September 7, 2025

NAIROBI, KENYA - NOVEMBER 17: Kenyan police intervene to supporters of political opposition leader Raila Odinga who are trying to gather near the country's main airport and Uhuru park to welcome Odinga back from an overseas trip, clash with Kenyan police in Nairobi, Kenya on November 17, 2017. Kenyan police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse supporters. Bryan Jaybee / Anadolu Agency

Police in Kenya have been left red-faced after thieves stole guns and ammunition from an unattended checkpost as the officers on duty watched UEFA Champions League matches down the road.

Three rifles and nearly two dozen rounds were pinched from the checkpost Tuesday evening in Nandi, in Kenya’s, while the officers wandered off to watch Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi play in the UEFA quarter-finals on television at a nearby shopping mall.

“On returning… they noticed the room of the in-charge, which is also used as an armoury in which the steel box is kept, was broken,” stated a police report into the incident seen by AFP.

A search was underway for the stolen firearms, the report added. It was not immediately clear if the officers faced disciplinary action.

Dutch side Ajax upset Ronaldo’s Juventus while Messi’s Barcelona crushed Manchester United in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

Football, particularly the top European competitions, is hugely popular in Kenya and across the African continent.

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Abdulateef Ahmed

Abdulateef Ahmed, Digital News Editor and; Research Lead, is a self-driven researcher with exceptional editorial skills. He's a literary bon vivant keenly interested in green energy, food systems, mining, macroeconomics, big data, African political economy, and aviation..