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Activist Mwabili Mwagodi seized at border over Interpol Red Notice
Kenyan activist Mwabili Mwagodi.
After spending two nights in different police stations in Mombasa, activist Mwabili Mwagodi was on Tuesday morning picked up by three detectives from Nairobi.
The activist was arrested on Sunday and first detained at the Lunga Lunga Border Police Post, where he spent his first night after immigration officers allegedly prevented him from leaving the country due to an Interpol Red Notice.
He was then transferred to Port Police Station in Mombasa, where he spent Monday night.
On Tuesday, the activist revealed that Officer Commanding Station (OCS) and a DCI officer visited him in his cell. He later updated his followers on X that OCS Mombasa Port Police conducted a welfare check on him at 4.30 am.
“The OCS informed me that the DCI Mazingira House team is here to pick me up. I have told her I am afraid of these DCI HQ guys, especially because of what they did to Albert Ojwang. She assured me of my safety,” he posted.
The officials cited a Red Notice said to have been placed on his passport earlier this year, Mwagodi claimed. On Monday, he was transferred to Mombasa as authorities prepared to take him to Nairobi.
In a statement posted on his official X account, Mwagodi said that he was travelling to Dar es Salaam when he was stopped at the border by officers who informed him that his passport had been flagged.
He claims that the alert was linked to a Red Notice allegedly issued in January or February 2025 by an officer from the Serious Crimes Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), based at Mazingira House on Kiambu Road.
The activist had earlier claimed the notice was issued by a DCI officer, but no offence had been specified, neither had he been informed of any allegations against him.
His detention has drawn swift criticism from civil society groups. Walid Sketty, a vocal African activist based in Mombasa, confirmed on Monday that Mwagodi was being held at Port Police Station.
According to Sketty, Mwagodi was on his way to Tanzania to sort out some issues with his former employer and collect his dues when he was intercepted at the border and detained.
“The police have not given the reason for his arrest; they are only citing ‘orders from above,” he said.
The arrest comes months after Mwagodi was reportedly abducted in Dar es Salaam under unclear circumstances.
He went missing on July 23, 2025, while travelling by public transport in Tanzania, where he worked in the hospitality sector.
Mwagodi was later found abandoned in Kinondo, Kwale County, after four days.
The circumstances surrounding the alleged Red Notice and his earlier disappearance remain unclear, raising questions about the basis of his current detention and events leading up to it.
By the time of publication, efforts to obtain a response from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations regarding the alleged Red Notice and reasons for the activist’s detention were unsuccessful.
