Three in custody for communicating with militants

Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group has dispatched seven of their operatives to carry out a terrorist attack in Kenya.

The intelligence report shared with a court in Mombasa indicates that Kenya, especially its Coast region, is at a high risk of terrorist attacks.

The planned attack, the court heard, is being coordinated by the seven operatives, who sneaked into the country from Somalia.

“Intelligence reports reveal there is an imminent threat of attacks” planned by militants who entered the Coast region after the Easter holiday, said state counsel Hillary Isiaho.

The revelations followed the arrests of three people by Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) officers. The suspects, police said, had been in constant communication with the operatives dispatched from Somalia to carry out the attack.

Relying on a document prepared by the ATPU, the prosecutor informed Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Vincent Adet the three are persons of interest.

They are Osman Mohamed Hassan, Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan and Hussein Ibrahim Hassan.

They were arrested on April 13 at a shop in Barsheba, Kisauni, and booked separately at the Makupa, Central and Port police stations. Four mobile phones were seized from them.

The police say preliminary investigations show that the three have family ties with known terror operatives in Somalia.

The document tabled in court shows Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan is believed to be a Somali national who sneaked into Kenya for an unknown mission.

“At the time of arrest, the respondent was in the process of acquiring Kenyan registration,” Mr Isiaho said.

He asked to detain the three for 14 days, saying investigators need more time to ascertain their true nationalities and what the suspects were up to.

The prosecutor said investigations would involve visiting the Dadaab and IFO refugee camps in Garissa County, where Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan is believed to have met with other known terror operatives.

“I am also following intelligence reports to make more arrests of other suspects who are within and outside Mombasa County,” investigating officer Jackson Katana said in a supporting affidavit.

The court also heard that on April 18, Hussein Ibrahim Hassan was found smuggling a mobile phone into the Makupa police cell and investigators want to establish the source of the gadget.

“The respondents’ cell phone gadgets have been forwarded to the ATPU headquarters in Nairobi for [data] extraction and analysis. The investigation team is yet to receive call data records, M-Pesa statements and other relevant communication from mobile service providers,” the prosecutor said.

Mr Katana also told the court that there are parallel investigations going on in Nairobi in relation to the arrests of the three and that the suspects could interfere with them if they were freed.

The court heard that the three are being investigated for being members of a terror group and being in possession of articles connected to the commission of terrorist act.

The three did not oppose the request to detain them but asked the court to reduce the time to seven days.

“The police have had a whole week to carry out investigations since we were arrested on April 13. Let them be allowed to detain us for only a week,” said Osman Mohamed Hassan.

He also lamented that he had closed his business for a week since his arrest and was losing money.

But Mr Isiaho said seven days would be insufficient to finalise investigations.

“Police need adequate time to collect more evidence considering that the respondents are foreigners,” the prosecutor said.

The magistrate allowed the police application and directed that the respondents be held at the Central Police Station for 14 days.

They will be produced in court on May 5.

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