Free me to go for surgery, terror suspect tells Mombasa court

A terror suspect who was shot and seriously injured when a multi-agency security team led by officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) raided his hideout in Tudor needs surgery on his right arm and hind limb.

Salim Aboud Khalid alias Survivor, who is now on a wheelchair, suffered serious gunshot wounds on the wee hours of September 11, 2019 and now requires an operation to correct his injured arm and limb.

Through his lawyer Yussuf Aboubakar, the suspect has urged a Mombasa court to free him so that he can seek specialised treatment.

BROKEN ARMS

“The suspect suffered broken arms and limb. He needs a specialised gadget for operation but the family cannot assist him because he is in custody. We urge the court to grant him bond so that he can be assisted to have the operation done,” Mr Aboubakar said.

It also emerged that the mobile phones the detectives recovered from the suspect and forwarded to Nairobi for ballistic analysis have exonerated him from terror links.

“There is no single shred of evidence linking the suspect to terror group and the three offences he is facing. The police have returned the phones and report on the forensic analysis of the gadgets. It has no iota of evidence against the accused. I have been told to sign it,” the advocate told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti.

AL-SHABAAB

Mr Khalid is accused of being a member of Al-Shabaab and obstructing a police officer from carrying out his duty. The court heard that the suspect attempted to attack police constable Edapal Lowasa with a knife.

The charge sheet reads that the suspect, with intent to maim, unlawfully attempted to strike the officer with a knife in Tudor, Mombasa on September 11.

And in an affidavit opposing bond for the suspect, the State said that he has links in Syria, Somalia and three other countries and has participated in the planning and execution of terror attacks by Al-Shabaab militants in northern Kenya and at the Coast.

The Director of Public Prosecutions said that Mr Khalid is a Shabaab operative who has coordinated various terror attacks within the country.

Relying in an affidavit filed by ATPU officer Dickson Indaru, State Counsel Erick Masila told the court that the suspect , who has survived several death traps, has been on the run and on the police most wanted list since June last year over links with the Somalia-based militants.

PLANNED ATTACKS

“The accused person is on police radar and under investigations for terrorism-related activities and planned attacks in the Coast and northern Kenya regions,” Mr Masila said.

Mr Masila said that the suspect had been hiding in Tanzania, where he fled to in 2013 after two of his accomplices were shot dead in Mombasa.

In addition, the police said that in the recent past, there have been planned terrorist attacks in the Coast region, which are believed to have been organised by the militant group which the accused person is believed to be a member of.

“There is a reasonable apprehension that if the accused person is released on bail, he will run away and it will be hard to trace him going by the fact that he has been on the run since last year. He is a flight risk and has no known fixed abode,” Mr Masila said.

MONEY LAUNDERING

The prosecutor also revealed that the suspect is being investigated for engaging in criminal activities including money laundering.

The court also has heard that investigations are still on course and that the suspect, who is well connected, may interfere with them.

“This crime is transnationally organised involving a syndicate operating in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia and other countries hence investigations will extend beyond Kenya,” Mr Masila said

The court will on November 1 whether to release the suspect on bond.