Four held on suspicion of terror links

Photo/FILE

Members of the hardline Al Shabaab Islamist rebel group sit on a pick-up during a demonstration in Mogadishu, October 30, 2009

Four Somalis suspected to be linked to an international terrorist organisation were on Sunday arrested by police in Kirinyaga County.

The suspects were seized as they took photographs of the storeyed buildings in Kerugoya Town.

They were also said to have taken pictures of other tall buildings in Nairobi and other parts of the country.

During the arrest, police confiscated powerful cameras from the suspects believed to have been spying for their organisation.

Police acting on a tip-off from the public pounced on the four men and took them to Kerugoya Police Station for interrogation.

On being questioned on why they were taking photographs, they failed to give a good reason, forcing police to lock them up.

Dowry negotiation

Earlier, they claimed they had accompanied a group of friends to a dowry negotiation ceremony when they made a stopover to take pictures.

Police, however, became suspicious when they failed to say where the ceremony was to be held.

Area head of police, Mr Patrick Oduma, said it was suspected that the men were members of a terrorist organisation.

He said the men would remain in custody until anti-terrorist officials visited the area to interrogate them further.

Mr Oduma said the police would also like to know whether the men were on the list of most wanted terrorists.

“We would like to establish whether these people are some of the dangerous terrorists being sought by the police,” he said.