Police kill terror suspect Juma Athman Mwengo after two-year search

Police have killed terror suspect Juma Athman Mwengo in Kwale County after a two-year hunt.

Mwengo was killed at his hideout in Tiribe, Matuga, on Monday during a raid by officers from Nairobi, just a week after they raided his family house in Lunga Lunga looking for him.

“[The suspect, who was in a house] was ordered to surrender but charged with a panga intending to harm one of the officers. In the process, he was fatally injured,” reads a police report seen by the Nation.

Police said Mwengo was a known recruiter and planner of terror activities in Mombasa and Kwale counties.

“He was responsible for recruiting and organising terror gang members in Msambweni, Likoni and Kisauni,” a report stated.

A second suspect identified as Kassim Nassoro Shauti reportedly escaped through a hole behind his house.

After a search in the house which belongs to Mr Shauti, police said they recovered five machetes and a black flag with Arabic writings.

Many escapes

Mwengo is said to have escaped two police dragnets as police searched for him in 2017 and 2019.

“Early in 2017, he escaped a raid at his house in Likoni Shika Adabu, where three military smoke jackets, two grenades, 10 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition and binoculars were [found],” a police report says.

He was once arrested that year after he was found with explosives, charged with terrorism and released on bond, but was not to be seen again.

In March 2019, police raided a house in Ng’ombeni where Mwengo was believed to have been hiding with another suspect, but missed them.

In October the same year,  they said the suspect was among three who escaped during a raid in Dudus, Likoni, where three terror suspects were killed and ammunition recovered.

At that time, police said the escapees were members of the Harakat, an Al-Shabaab faction, and that they were armed and dangerous.

Family's nightmare

The Lunga Lunga search for Mwengo saw officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) break into the family house at around 3am and search each room.

They took away Mwengo’s brother Omar, whom they appeared to have confused with the suspect.

The officers walked with Mr Omar to where they had parked their vehicles, interrogated him and then released him.

“It looks like they got the wrong information and came to torment us. They should look for him elsewhere because we also haven’t known his whereabouts for two years now,” said Mr Hassan Juma, the suspect's elder brother.

After Mwengo absconded, a Mombasa court jailed Mr Juma for six months at Shimo la Tewa Maximum Security Prison.

“I had placed a bond of two title deeds on him so I was jailed until December last year, when I got the title deeds back,” he said.

On Monday, the family said they went to Kwale mortuary to identify the body.