Nakuru rugby player arrested on his way to join Al-Shabaab

Javan Morton Murai, alias Jamal, at the Marsabit Police Station on June 13, 2016. It has emerged that Murai plays for Nakuru RFC. PHOTO | KEN BETT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Javan Morton Murai plays for Nakuru RFC.
  • He had travelled from Nakuru via Nanyuki and Isiolo to Marsabit before embarking on a journey to Somalia on foot.
  • Murai, 27, who last played for Nakuru on May 28, was arrested at a borehole in the Jaldesa Community Conservancy.
  • Nakuru RFC expressed solidarity with the KDF saying it does not condone any activities that subvert security.

A Kabarak University student arrested in Marsabit on suspicion that he was on his way to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, is a renowned rugby player.

Javan Morton Murai plays for Nakuru RFC.

On Tuesday, the club said it was stunned by Murai’s arrest and link to terrorism.

In a statement, club chairman Ali Ajabri said: “The Nakuru RFC family has learnt with great shock of the recent arrest of one of our senior players on suspicion of involvement with Al Shabaab.”

He added: “Javan Morton Murai was a senior player at our club who showed no overt signs of radicalisation or extremist tendencies that would have raised any alarm at the club or amongst teammates.

“We therefore wish to express shock, disbelief and great disappointment at this unnerving development.”

Murai, 27, who last played for Nakuru on May 28, was arrested by rangers and Administration Police officers at a borehole in the Jaldesa Community Conservancy.

SOLIDARITY WITH KDF

Nakuru RFC also expressed solidarity with the Kenya Defence Forces saying it does not condone any activities that subvert the security of the soldiers or the nation.

The 2013 Kenya Cup champions said they had contacted the relevant security agencies and pledged “full co-operation with the ongoing investigations.”

“We will continue to do everything in our means to protect our players from any negative influences in our society and to mentor them in the proud traditions of our club and our country,” the statement added.

Sources told the Nation that Murai, who had converted to Islam some years ago while in Mombasa, is from a well to do family.

His arrest puzzled many rugby players and fans in Nakuru.

Murai, aka Jamal, is currently being held in police custody in Marsabit pending further investigations by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU).

Marsabit County Criminal Investigations Officer Bernard Barasa said the law student who hails from Vihiga County was headed to Somalia to link up with his friends who had left to join Al-Shabaab.

LOOKING FOR WATER

Mr Barasa said the rangers and APs spotted the suspect on Friday evening at around 7.30pm as he smashed a community water tank to get drinking water and arrested him.

Upon interrogation, police found suspicious items including improvised explosive device wires, a hard drive, several identity cards, a modem and a notebook which contained terrorism information on how to destroy buildings.

“We arrested him and upon thorough search we found him with assorted materials related to terrorism among them [an] IED,’’ said Mr Barasa in his office.

JOURNEY TO SOMALIA

According to preliminary investigations, the suspect had travelled from Nakuru via Nanyuki and Isiolo to Marsabit before embarking on a journey to Somalia through Wajir County on foot.

The suspect, who was also charged before senior resident Magistrate Boaz Ombewa with malicious damage to property, admitted committing the offence last Friday at Jaldesa.

He told the court that he was thirsty having trekked for three days from Marsabit Town to Jaldesa without water.

The prosecution had requested for thirty days to allow the ATPU to undertake investigations but the court deferred the taking of plea by the suspect for 14 days.

The magistrate ordered that the suspect be held in police custody in Isiolo until June 27, 2016 when the case will be mentioned.