3 suspected Ugandans held in Mozambique over terrorism
What you need to know:
- According to Club of Mozambique, a news agency, police said the suspects, including a woman, were found with Ugandan travel documents.
- One of the suspects was identified as Abdul Rahman Faisal, a name which appeared among those of the top leaders of Usafi Mosque near Mengo Hill Road in Kampala.
- Police raided this mosque in April 2018 and and killed two suspected leaders of a criminal group. More than 80 children and women were rescued.
KAMPALA,
Mozambique security forces have arrested three people believed to be Ugandans after a raid on a suspected terrorist camp in Cabo Delgado district of Mocimboa da Praia.
Tis area in the north of the country is infested with Islamist terrorists.
According to Club of Mozambique, a news agency, police said the suspects, including a woman, were found with Ugandan travel documents.
KEY SUSPECT
One of the suspects was identified as Abdul Rahman Faisal, a name which appeared among those of the top leaders of Usafi Mosque near Mengo Hill Road in Kampala, Uganda.
Police raided this mosque in April 2018 and and killed two suspected leaders of the group. More than 80 children and women were rescued.
Faisal was not arrested at that time and Ugandan security had been looking for him.
The Daily Monitor could not readily establish whether the Faisal arrested in the Mozambique raid is the leader of Usafi Mosque wanted by Ugandan forces.
Security forces accused the leaders of the mosque of being Islamic fundamentalists and nine were charged in court with kidnapping and murdering Susan Magara in February 2018.
SECURITY RESPONSE
Uganda’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations, International Police and Foreign Affairs Ministry didn’t have details of the arrests in Mozambique.
DCI spokesperson, Mr Vincent Ssekatte, said Interpol experts in Kampala were still checking with their counterparts in the International Police for the details.
The Club of Mozambique quoted Mocimboa da Praia provincial police spokesperson, Mr Zacarias Nacuti, as saying the interrogation of the trio helped them identify terrorists' camps in the area, which were then overrun and destroyed.
“Faisal told reporters he is an electro-technical engineer and a leader of the al-Shabaab terrorist group in Uganda. He denied coming to Mozambique to take part in any terrorist attacks,” the agency wrote.
It added that he said he entered the country to find his colleague Abdul Aziz, whom he last saw in the DR Congo some time back.
