Coded texts found on terror suspect’s phone

What you need to know:

  • The messages were retrieved from sim cards and mobile phones linked to Mr Jermaine Grant during a forensic analysis in London

A British terror suspect sent several coded messages including one that alerted his associates of his arrest by the Kenyan police in 2011.

Inspector John Reilly of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism unit told Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate, Joyce Gandani, that the messages were retrieved from sim cards and mobile phones linked to Mr Jermaine Grant during a forensic analysis in London.

Mr Reilly told the court during the trial that resumed last week that the messages were sent on December 19, 2011, the same night Mr Grant and Mr Abubakar Fuad Manswab were arrested at his rented house in Kisauni.

The witness said a phone and a sim card were scrutinised and they contained a message that read: “The lions are inside. One of them is very watchful, like a bird watches a stone.”

“This message was sent twice within a minute to different contacts. Three sim cards were used in different mobile phones,” said Mr Reilly.
The court also heard that one message stated: “Habib is already here.”

The Kenyan and British detectives suspected that was in reference to Habib Gani, a British terror suspect killed last year in Somalia.
Detective Reilly further said that a sim card found in Mr Grant’s trouser pocket had three messages sent to one contact.

The first text sent on M40 was relayed at 18.58pm and read, “I am at place having seen him.” The second sent at 19.12pm said, “where are you,” while the third sent at 20.24pm contained the message: “where is your friend. We need to see him. Very much important.”

Mr Reilly said that he led some British detectives on a search at Mr Grant’s house and discovered materials for making explosives.

“These items are indicative of someone who was intending to set up an explosive commonly known as TNT,” said Mr Reilly.