Man found with 23 passports, held over links with Al-Shabaab
What you need to know:
- “We suspect the documents are fake or may have been stolen to be used to facilitate recruitment of terror agents or poaching because there was no office of the alleged recruitment agency at the place of arrest,” said the police boss.
- Concerns have been raised over unpatrolled game reserves in Kitui County feared to be hideouts for terrorists sneaking into the country from the war torn Somalia.
Police in Kitui on Thursday arrested a foreigner and confiscated 23 passports and other foreign documents.
The foreigner was arrested at Voo market, a remote trading centre in Mutha division, bordering the vast South Kitui Game Reserve, which is suspected to be a hiding place for terrorists and poachers.
According to Mutomo police boss Thomas Ngeiywa, the man claimed that the passports belong to people he was securing jobs for in the Middle East.
But police suspect they could be used to bring terrorists into the country. Mr Ngeiywa said the 34-year-old suspect had been handed over for questioning to the county CID office to determine whether the documents were genuine and their purpose.
RECRUITMENT OF TERRORISTS
“We suspect the documents are fake or may have been stolen to be used to facilitate recruitment of terror agents or poaching because there was no office of the alleged recruitment agency at the place of arrest,” said the police boss.
He said preliminary investigations had revealed that the man, who is believed to be a Somali national, had recently acquired land in the Voo area and bought a house in the remote market.
Concerns have been raised about unpatrolled game reserves in Kitui County feared to be hideouts for terrorists sneaking into the country from war-torn Somalia.
The concerns are based on intelligence reports that suspected Al-Shabaab militants are avoiding major highways, where police have stepped up security surveillance, and resorting to village routes to sneak their way into Nairobi.
Elgiva Bwire, who is serving a life sentence, confessed that he transported dozen of grenades from Somalia using village routes in Kitui County.
