Kenyan police arrest tailor with security uniforms in Wajir

Police are interrogating a tailor arrested in the border town of Wajir who is suspected of selling security uniforms to al Shabaab.

Wajir County Commissioner Naftali Mungathia said the uniforms which include the military jungles of regular and administration police were found stashed at the tailor’s shop by military intelligence officers.

Mr Mungathia said they suspect the uniforms were being sold to members of al Shabaab militia and that of armed clan militia currently engaged in inter-clan warfare in Wajir and Mandera County.

“Our security uniforms are usually highly protected from criminals who can get access to them and we are wondering how the tailor got such huge consignments of the uniform,” he said.

Mr Mungathia said several police officers including Wajir officer commanding station (OCS), were recording statement to assist in the investigations since they were mentioned by the tailor as those he was making the uniform for.

“We have established a consignment of 15 newly made jungle uniforms was dispatched on Monday and we are doing a probe to establish who the recipients of the delivery were,” he noted.

The government administrator said they highly suspect, the uniforms have been going to wrong hands of criminals, adding that, three clan militia who were among those who raided Gunana village and killed four people were found to be in a full police uniform an indication that, they were being supplied from the tailor’s shop.

The incident comes as East African nation has increasingly faced a major onslaught from al Shabaab militants from Somalia who have been hurling grenade and bomb attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa and northern region.

Several civilians including policemen have been killed especially in the northern counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera which are near the border with Somalia.

Subsequent efforts to fight terrorism and neutralize al Shabaab threats have seen Anti-Terrorism Police Unit arrest dozens of other Kenyans on suspicion of being members of the Somali terror group.

It is such suspects, and dozens others, born and bred in Kenya and who are believed to be sympathisers of al Shabaab that the East African nation is grappling with in its fight against terror.

Police have said that most of those who are being used to carry out terror attacks in Kenya are its own youth, who have been enlisted in the Somali-based extremist group.

Most of them are from up-country Kenya and are recent converts to Islam.