Top terror suspect vanishes from police station

Somalia al-Shabaab insurgents at the capital Mogadishu. Kenyan anti-terror detectives identified the man who disappeared from police custody as an operative of the al-Shabaab which has links to the al-Qaeda terror network. Photo/FILE

A high-level terror suspect arrested by police in Kenya has mysteriously disappeared from custody at a border police station.

The man, who was arrested on March 13, was reported missing at 9 pm on Tuesday last week from Busia police station where he was awaiting further profiling by Anti-Terrorism Police Unit officers from Nairobi.

Three police officers, a sergeant and two constables, have been arrested in connection with the suspect’s disappearance. They are suspected to have accepted cash from the suspect to release him.

Anti-terror detectives identified the man as an operative of the Somalia-based al-Shabaab which has links to the al-Qaeda terror network and had been placed on an international watch list.

The suspect had an Australian passport identifying him as Farah Hussein, but Immigration officers arrested him after suspecting that the document was forged.

Two Busia businessmen were also arrested and charged in court for “aiding a prisoner to escape” as they had visited the man at the station.
The man had $3,400 (Sh258,400) on him when he was arrested just after crossing the Uganda border.

Senior officers dispatched from the Western provincial headquarters to investigate the escape found that the suspect was given “special treatment” while in custody.

And in Lamu, 11 suspected Somali pirates were arrested yesterday after they tried to hijack a fishing vessel in what is believed to be the first incident where pirates have been intercepted by local security personnel.

“It is true, we have arrested 11 suspects believed to be pirates in Kiunga area,” Coast Criminal Investigation Officer Nyagah Reche said.

More than 100 suspected pirates have been arrested by foreign navies in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.