Suspect in planned anthrax attack denied bail

A medical intern police linked to a foiled anthrax terror attack has been denied bail.

Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku on Wednesday overruled a request to release Mohamed Abdi Ali on bail, stating there were no “compelling reasons” to do so.

The prosecution had objected to his release, saying he was a threat to national security.

Ms Mutuku said most offences the suspect is charged with are alleged to have been committed on social media and it would be difficult for the police to monitor his activities once released from custody.

Security agencies said they foiled a planned biological attack using anthrax when they arrested Mr Ali.

He is accused of supporting an online terrorist recruitment programme.

Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet alleged that the accused is a terrorist recruiter in the country.

Police revealed that Mr Ali’s terror network within Kenya spread as far as the Coast region, North Rift, western as well as other countries that include Somalia, Libya and Syria.

The prosecution said he is a member of an East African terror group network that has links to the so-called Islamic State.

Mr Ali’s wife, Nuseiba Mohammed Haji, a student at Kampala International University, is also in custody pending trial over similar offences. She was arrested in Uganda.

The couple are accused of engaging in “active radicalisation and recruitment of university students and other Kenyan youth into terror networks.” They have denied the charges.

“The same network has been facilitating Kenyan youth to secretly leave the country to join terror groups in Libya and Syria,” reads an affidavit by the Anti-terrorism Police Unit.

(Editing by Beatrice Obwocha)