Court told of terror suspect’s holiday trip

A Mombasa court was on Tuesday told how one of the four women accused of being an Al-Shabaab member flew into Kenya from Sudan for a holiday.

Ms Ummulkheir Sadri Abdalla, who was arrested alongside three other women in El Wak, Mandera County, travelled from Sudan to Kenya through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Mr Gilbert Nawate, an immigration officer, said Ms Abdalla arrived at JKIA on March 23 at 6.30pm.

“I was at the international arrival terminal when she presented her Tanzanian passport. She said she was a university student in Sudan,” said Mr Nawate. He added that Ms Abdalla was not listed in the security system as a criminal or terrorist.

He said he cleared her on establishing that her passport was valid.

“I stamped it for a three-month visa,” he said.

However, Mr Nawate could not remember if the passport had a Sudan exit stamp.

He also said he could not recognise the accused’s face.

“We clear more than 30,000 people every year, so I cannot identify a person immediately, unless I see a photo to remind me,” he said.

The court was also informed that Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers in Mombasa phoned Mr Nawate to inform him of four women arrested while sneaking into Somalia.

Ms Abdalla was arrested in March alongside Ms Khadija Abubakar Abdulkadir, Ms Maryam Said Aboud and Ms Halima Adan.

“The officers travelled to Nairobi and informed me that the woman was arrested although I had also heard it in the media and recorded a statement with the JKIA police,” said Mr Nawate.

The prosecutor, Ms Ngina Mutua, asked for an adjournment, but said Mr Nawate could be recalled.

But Mr Hamisi Mwadzogo, appearing for the women, objected, saying the accused were students and adjourning the case would affect their education.

He said adjourning the case, which was to take two days, showed that the State was breaching its appeal to deny the four women bond.

The court ruled that the four may reapply for bond.