Six al-Shabaab recruits and Nigerian arrested
Laban Walloga | NATION
Relatives of six young men who were arrested on claims of bein al Shabaab recruits on their way to Somalia, pray at the home of one of the suspects in Tononoka, Mombasa, on Monday.
What you need to know:
- The youths included two students from a Mombasa secondary school recruited by a radical Islamic cleric
Two secondary school students from Mombasa are among six youths intercepted in Lamu while being ferried to Somalia to join a terror group.
Security bosses said their mission was to join Somalia’ insurgency group, al-Shabaab.
Coast police boss Leo Nyongesa said the six were arrested at the weekend in the far-flung island of Kizingitini alongside a Nigerian with a British passport.
The latter is suspected of masterminding the racket.
“Our officers laid ambush in Kizingitini and arrested the six while in transit to Somalia,” Mr Nyongesa said in his office on Monday.
Boat to Kizingitini
He added that pamphlets connected with al-Shabaab were recovered during the Sunday evening arrests.
The group had boarded a speed boat from Lamu Island to Kizingitini before they were arrested. Mr Nyongesa said detectives were looking for more people linked to the recruitment.
Police sources said the six admitted to have been recruited from a mosque in Majengo, Mombasa, after they were persuaded by a radical Imam in his weekly lectures.
Audio and videos tapes purportedly containing Jihad sermons issued by the wanted cleric are reportedly in the hands of detectives investigating the matter.
The source said the six spent Saturday night at an isolated madrassa in Kilifi.
The officer said some Mombasa tycoons and radical Muslim clerics have established terrorist recruitment bases at the mosque and another one in Diani.
Separately, parents of three of the six arrested youths yesterday asked the government to bring to book those who recruited their children for al-Shabaab.
The parents said their sons disappeared on Saturday morning shortly after morning prayers at the local mosque.
The boys are Form Three students at Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Secondary School.
