Wajir court orders Al-shabaab suspect to be held for 10 days 

A suspected Al-Shabaab member is to be held for 10 more days to enable police complete investigations.

Abdi Dore Haret was arrested in Stawario, Khorof Harar in Wajir County on November 4, for being in possession of an AK47 rifle with 19 rounds of ammunition.

The rifle is suspected to have been stolen from a National Police Reservist.
Dore was on Monday charged before Wajir Senior Resident Magistrate Mugendi Nyaga for being in possession of a firearm without a firearm certificate.

During his arrest, it was not established if Dore was a Kenyan citizen. 

“He claimed to be a Kenyan and that he had lost his ID card. His nationality is yet to be confirmed,” the investigating officer said.

The investigating officer who is attached to the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) in Wajir asked for more time to investigate if Dore was a member of a terrorist group.

In his affidavit, the investigating officer says the investigation is wide and complex and asked the court to grant ATPU more days to establish if the suspect is among the Al-Shabaab operatives who coordinate attacks in Kenya.

He also sought to establish if the rifle had been used in any other offences.

The rifle and the ammunition will be forwarded to the DCI ballistic section in Nairobi to confirm if they had been used in previous attacks.

The suspect’s phone will be forwarded to ATPU headquarters forensic laboratory for data extraction and analysis to establish communications between him and his accomplices.

The court ordered the suspect to be remanded for 10 more days for investigations.