Two suspected Al Shabaab operatives arrested in Mandera.
Anti-terrorism police unit (ATPU) officers in Mandera East have arrested two suspected Al Shabaab operatives.
In a statement on Tuesday, DCI said the two suspects had planned to abduct a team of foreign nationals working at a sewer line construction site within Mandera township.
The main suspect Isaac Abdi Mohamed alias Kharan Abdi Hassan is said to have recently entered Kenya from El-Ade in Somalia.
“Acting on intelligence, the ever-agile sleuths swiftly arrested the prime suspect, Isaac Abdi Mohamed alias Kharan Abdi Hassan, 29, who had recently sneaked his way into the country from El-ade in Somalia and forged a number of documents to identify as a Kenyan,” read the statement in part.
DCI noted that upon interrogation of the prime suspect, it was discovered that Mohamed was to pay a local associate Sh100,000 to help carry out the abduction.
After that, he and another accomplice Noor Yacob Ali who was to help him transport the victims to El-Ade for a Sh300,000 fee.
“On keen scrutiny and thorough interrogation, it was discovered that the suspect was to pay Sh 100,000 to his local associate, who would assist in the abduction exercise before he and another, Noor Yacob Ali, 29 facilitated the to-be victims’ movement to El-ade at a Sh 300,000 fee,” DCI stated.
A multi-agency security team conducted an operation on Tuesday morning and apprehended Mohamed’s associate Yacob Ali.
The two have been booked in custody undergoing further interrogation ahead of their arraignment for being members of a terrorist group, which is a serious offense under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
This comes after the recent abduction of five local chiefs by suspected al-Shabaab militants in Mandera. The militants have since demanded a Sh7 million ransom for the release of four of them.
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