Over 200 arrested in terrorism crackdown in Mombasa

Police in Mombasa on Wednesday raided two mosques in Kisauni where machete-wielding gangs attacked residents and killed three people.

After Wednesday’s raid at the Minaa and Swafaa mosques, police displayed a hand grenade, nine petrol bombs, two rounds of ammunition, a bomb detonator, explosive booster, three machetes, a knife and literature on Muslim teachings, which, they said, they had found in the two mosques.

The raid came as hotel owners at the Coast warned that unless the growing problem of insecurity was tackled, the tourism industry in the region risked collapsing.

“Hotels had already started to register bookings for the festive season, but the spate of violent crime in Mombasa is worrying us,” Kenya Coast Tourist Association chairman Mohamed Hersi said.

The Coast is a popular holiday destination for local tourists during the December school holidays and Christmas festivities.

On Tuesday, Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa said politicians were to blame for the violence in Kisauni. 

“There are some individuals with their eyes trained on the 2017 elections who are inciting youths and building militias, which they can then use to harass their political opponents,” Mr Marwa had said, but declined to name the suspects.

THROUGH THE BACK DOOR

On Wednesday, police also said they had arrested 109 youths in the area during a dawn operation.

This brought to 248, the number of youths arrested in the security operation that has lasted three days.

Only one person was arrested inside the Minaa Mosque, while no one was arrested in the Swafaa Mosque raid.

Police said suspects who were hiding at Safaa escaped through a back door or by scaling the perimeter wall after receiving word on the impending police raid.

“We received intelligence that some mosques in Kisauni were radicalising youths, training them in jihadism. We conducted an operation in the entire Kisauni sub-county with a specific attention to the mosques that featured in the intelligence report,” Kisauni OCPD Richard Ngatia said.

“At Masjid Swafaa, which was recently in the limelight after youths took it over, we found a hand grenade, some petrol bombs, bomb detonator, a booster and equipment associated with training for jihadism and literature preaching hatred towards the media.”

There was no resistance during the raid that started at midnight, he said. The mosques would remain closed until police complete investigations, he added and asked worshippers to pray in other mosques.

“As of now the mosques are crime scenes and nobody should tamper with them. We are also aware of the aftermath and we have taken that into consideration to deal with it,” Mr Ngatia said, and warned that they would pursue those behind the radicalisation of youth.

“Think twice and ponder where your children go to worship,” he urged parents from the area.

The 248 youths arrested in three days of police operations appeared before a Mombasa court on Wednesday but no charges being preferred against them

The prosecution asked the court to give the police seven more days to hold and screen the suspects.

ASSESS CLIENT'S AGE

In a sworn affidavit, the investigations officer, Corporal Jackson Guyo, said the respondents were to be charged with being members of Al-Shabaab terrorist group, among other offences.

Separately, Chief Inspector Paul Makonge told the court that 91 suspects were freed at various police stations.

“They were many suspects arrested and we have to divide them into groups to ensure they are properly screened,” he said.

Lawyer George Igunza, who represented Issa Said Athman, opposed the application to hold the suspects.

He also asked the court to order the police to assess his client’s age. “My client is a minor who was incarcerated with adults. His rights as a child have been infringed,” he said and opposed Athman’s continued stay in custody.

Other suspects also opposed the prosecution’s application with some telling the court that they were arrested during house-to-house searches carried out in various estates in Mombasa Island.

Mr Samuel Mwangi Chege and Mr John Omondi Ochogo accused the police of forcefully removing them from their houses.

“I was not even given time to put on a shirt and that is why I am before this court with a bare chest. I was forcefully removed from my house,” Mr Chege said.

Ms Edna Wanjiru and Ms Beltanora Mukiva told the court that they left behind two children, of whom one was three years.

Ms Mukiva told the court: “I am a breast feeding mother of a four-month-old son. I left him with a housegirl and until this moment I don’t know his fate.”

SEE THEIR CHILDREN

In his ruling allowing the police to hold the suspects for seven days, the principal magistrate directed the police to allow the mothers to see their children and keep the minors from adults.

“I have considered the application by the State. The Prevention of Terrorism Act provides the suspects be held for up to 90 days. I find the seven days required by the State as reasonable,” the magistrate said.

The case will be mentioned on November 26.

Meanwhile, police have identified the victims of Monday’s gang stabbings at three bus-stops in Kisauni as Joshua Muteti, 35, Fadhili Juma Yuyu, 33 and Zephania Njeru Nyagah.

Mr Yuyu was buried on Tuesday. The bodies of the other two are at the Coast General Hospital, where they were taken by the police.

Two survivors of the attack are at the Coast General Hospital.

Reported by Wachira Mwangi, Galgalo Bocha and Mathias Ringa