Detectives in Mandera County are holding two suspects linked to an alleged planned abduction of foreigners working on a government project in Mandera East.
The two, according to Mandera County Criminal Investigations Officer (CCIO) Pius Gitari, are suspected of coordinating terror activities in the far-flung county.
“We are holding two suspects linked to coordination of al-Shabaab terror activities in Mandera. Interrogations are underway before we take them to court,” Mr Gitari said by phone.
The suspects identified as Isaack Abdi Mohamed alias Kharan Abdi Hassan and Noor Yakub Ali are being held at Mandera Police Station by the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU).
Mohamed is reported to have recently crossed into Kenya and fraudulently acquired identification documents that enabled him to move freely.
“The suspect, Isaac Abdi Mohamed alias Kharan Abdi Hassan aged about 29 years suspected to be a Somalia national recently came to Kenya and fraudulently applied for a Kenyan identity card,” a police report on the incident said.
It went on: “After interrogation, he confirmed that he was on a mission to also abduct doctors/ Chinese nationals within Mandera township he also revealed to be working closely with one Kenyan namely Noor Yacob Ali, aged 29 years, who was also arrested at Metamora area within Mandera township by multiagency security team.”
He came in from El-Ade in Somalia, security sources say.
In his plan, Abdi is said to have paid a local of Mandera about Sh100,000 to facilitate abduction of the foreigners working on a sewerage project in Mandera near the Kenya Somalia border.
The Mandera Water and Sewerage project, which was launched in 2018, is being undertaken by Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese-owned company.
The multi-million project is funded by the African Development Bank (AFDB) and has been delayed in the past by insecurity in Mandera and the outbreak of Coronavirus in 2019.
When planning for the security of the workers on site at the start of the project, the Chinese rejected a plan to have them housed at a local military base.
The police revealed that the two suspects planned to have their target transported to El-Ade at a cost of Sh300,000.
On April 12, 2020, suspected al-Shabaab militants kidnapped two Cuban doctors working in Mandera and took them to Somalia.
The two, Dr Assel Herrera Correa and Dr Landy Rodriguez Hernandez were on their way to their workstation when they were waylaid and bundled into a vehicle that sped off towards Somalia.
A police officer, Constable Mutundo Kitambo attached to the two doctors was killed in the incident while another officer escaped unhurt.
Their driver, Issack Ibrein Robow, was charged with terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The arrest of the two on Friday morning comes amid heightened security operations in Mandera weeks after five chiefs were abducted and taken into Somalia.
Close family members of the five chiefs have since confirmed that their kinsmen are being held separately in the Jilib area in Somalia.
In Elwak, Mandera South, two police officers are being held after a terror suspect escaped from Elwak Police Station cells.
Muse Muhumed Abdule was booked at the police station February 9 but escaped on February 14 after attending a court session in Mandera.
