Mandera attack mastermind sneaks back to Kenya: Police

Mohamed Dubow has been hiding in Somalia since the July massacre. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Police have offered a Sh2 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
  • Following the attack, which targeted quarry workers who are normally from outside Mandera, the government stopped stone mining in the area until security was restored.

A dangerous terrorist suspect who was involved in the murder of 14 people in Mandera last year has sneaked back to Kenya from Somalia, police have warned.

Mohamed Dubow has been hiding in the war-torn country since the July massacre.

Consequently, police have offered a Sh2 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

“The subject is one of the masterminds of the Mandera quarry attack,” said National Police Service Spokesman George Kinoti. “He had fled to Somalia but police suspect he may have returned to the country. “Police are appealing to the public to offer information that will help to bring the fugitive to justice.”

The police notice asked anybody with information to call telephone numbers 020 2199151, 0702 432877 or emergency lines 999 or 112. It also warned that the suspect is “armed and dangerous”.

Mr Kinoti said information received would be treated with confidentiality.

Following the attack, which targeted quarry workers who are normally from outside Mandera, the government stopped stone mining in the area until security was restored.

Another 36 quarry workers were killed in the area in 2014.

At the same time, 11 other terrorists who sneaked into Kenya from Somalia last year have not been arrested even after the government offered cash rewards for any information leading to their arrests.

Some of them have been on the police watch list of most wanted terrorists for more than a year.

Large billboards of their photographs have been erected in counties bordering Somalia.

EXECUTED TERRORISTS
Similar billboards were mounted in Nairobi when their identities were first made public.

There have been successes because a number of terrorists have either been killed or arrested thanks to the campaign seeking information from the public.

Six have been killed while an equal number are in custody. Each of the suspects had a Sh2 million bounty on their head.

Among them was Luqman Osman Shirwa aka Deere, the Coast Al-Shabaab commander and leader of Jesh Ayman.

He was gunned down in June last year. Luqman was killed together with a Briton, Thomas Evans.

Abdirahim Abdullahi was killed by the GSU commandos during the terrorist attack at Garissa University College last year.

Abdalla Salim Marumu and Suleiman Mohammed Awadh were killed in a police raid on a house in Kwachocha, Malindi in Kilifi County, on January 20.