Anti-terror police on high alert
The Standard
March 26, 2010
By Cyrus Ombati
Security in all airports and border points has been tightened to counter terrorism.
Anti-terror police and immigration officials have in the past month alone detained for questioning more than 15 terror suspects most of whom are of Somali origin but possess passports for other countries.
"We suspect these people were heading to Somalia to support Al-Shabaab. We will not allow Kenya to be used as a transit point," said senior security officials who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
There is talk that those flocking the country want to use Kenya as a planning point to launch attacks in Somalia.
A recent UN report indicated militia groups in Somalia get support from the Diaspora and also that some Al-Shabaab leaders live in Nairobi.
The report says leaders of a mosque in Eastleigh, Nairobi, engage in propaganda, fund-raising and recruitment on behalf of Al-Shabaab.
The latest arrests happened on Thursday at Wilson Airport in Nairobi where a US citizen of Somali origin on the terror watch list was arrested, alongside two others, en route to Mogadishu.
The man, who had a US passport, was identified as Suleiman Essa. Police said he is on the terror watch list. The second suspect identified as Amnet Ali Hassan held a Canadian passport. He, too, was of Somali origin.
The third suspect identified as Mohamed Hussein Hashi had a Kenyan. Their mission in Mogadishu is yet to be established but law enforcers believe they were headed there to help militia gangs.
Head of the anti-terror police unit Nicholas Kamwende confirmed Essa is on the terror watch list without elaborating.
And on Wednesday, four Pakistanis were arrested at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa. Even though they said they were tourists, police said they suspected they had ulterior motives.
They were identified as Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim, a soldier with the United Arab Emirates armed forces, Abdallah Saleh Omar Aljabry, a policeman with the United Arab Emirates police service, Bilal Abod Slim and Muhtasam Mohamed Mafudh.
Anti-terror police also arrested four other suspects on arrival in Kilifi.
It is during the same time that runaway terror suspect Hussein Hashi Farah escaped from police custody in Busia where he was being held pending transportation to Nairobi.
Major swoops have been conducted in the neighbouring towns but no arrest has been made.
Terror watch list
Surveillance in all airports and border points has been stepped. Officials have been ordered not to take chances with suspicious looking characters.
More officials have been taken to the Uganda-Tanzania borders after it emerged that most terror suspects use the routes en route to Somalia.
Several Somalis have been arrested at the border points in the past months in operations that Internal Security Minister George Saitoti say will continue.
"They are not targeting any individual or religion. We will continue to ensure our country is safe," Saitoti was quoted as saying.
Farah is wanted in Australia for allegedly planning to attack an army base in Sydney last August with four others.
Farah escaped a police dragnet in Australia in August that saw his four accomplices arrested for planning to attack Holsworthy army base as well as helping send people to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab
