Tuesday February 19, 2019
A sign outside the Mandera Law Courts as pictured on February 19, 2019. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A Mandera court has allowed police to hold a man believed to an Al-Shabaab spy for five days so they can complete investigations.
Officers of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) arrested Mr Abdu Hassan Yamah alias Somo Dubat Oukor on Sunday, informed by an intelligence report.
Police noted that Mr Yamah is Somali but was found with a Ugandan identity card.
'SHABAAB SPY'
While praying for the suspect's detention for a probe by a multi-agency security unit, ATPU officer Newton Mbogo said he is believed to be a spy for the terror group.
According to the ATPU, intelligence revealed that Mr Yamah acquired the Ugandan ID fraudulently for purposes of concealing organised criminal activities.
It is believed he was to be deployed to the Kenya–Somalia border.
“He is suspected to have been collecting information for Al-Shabaab in Mandera,” Mr Mbogo told Mandera Resident Magistrate Dancun Mtai in a sworn affidavit.
“The ATPU wants to carry out investigations in Kenya, Uganda and Somalia to exonerate or charge the respondent."
ATTACKS
Police further argued that the suspect did not give a clear picture of his mission in Kenya during preliminary interrogations.
“He did not tell us where he was coming from. We suspect he is a spy (Amniyaat) who, on several occasions, conducted surveillance and gave information to Al-Shabaab,” said Mr Mbogo.
The officer added that information collected and given to the terror group by the suspect had been used to kill or injure both security personnel and civilians in Mandera and other parts of the country.