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Detectives detain two arrested in Likoni, Mombasa over links to terror groups

Three senior officials from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) have been arrested over the manufacturing and distribution of fake fertilisers to farmers in the country.

By Joseph Ndunda | Thursday, April 11, 2024

A detective attached to the ATPU Mombasa branch told a court that preliminary investigations had established that Hussein had already enlisted Ali into joining Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) Mombasa branch is holding two terror suspects suspected to have been coordinating recruitment of new members into terror groups in Likoni.

They are Hussein Yusuf Mrafi, 27, and Ali Mwalimu Mwinyi, 21, arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, in the same area.

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ATPU says Hussein is suspected to have been recruiting for global terror group ISIS and its regional affiliate Al-Shabaab in Congo and Somalia.

A detective attached to the ATPU Mombasa branch told a court that preliminary investigations had established that Hussein had already enlisted Ali into joining Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The police officer told the court in an affidavit that the two are suspected to be part of a terror cell mushrooming in Likoni and the two confirmed that they are known to a suspect who has already left the country to join the Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The two are said to have been spreading the late radical Islamic preacher Aboud Rogo's teachings.

"They would listen and spread Aboud Rongo's teachings in the Likoni area and they have two mutual friends that have gone to join Al-Shabaab after listening to the radical teachings," states an affidavit filed in the Mombasa Court by a detective.

"The first respondent (Mrafi) claims that there are others who are still using Rogo's teachings to radicalise and are yet to be arrested."

The detective was making an application to detain the two for 30 days pending investigations into the matter.

However, Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo gave only 21 days' custodial orders for the exercise.

The officer said he was investigating a case of recruiting members of a terrorist group contrary to section 13 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2012.

The ATPU wants time to take the two mobile phones and electronics accessories recovered during the arrest of the two men to the ATPU Cyber Forensic Laboratory in Nairobi for analysis.

The case will be mentioned on May 7.