Two Kangemi residents Kiguzo Mwangolo Mgutu and Abubakar Jillo Mohamed who are linked to ISIS outfit.
BY THOMAS KARIUKI.
Terrorist outfit ISIS has infiltrated Kenya. This was confirmed in a statement by the Inspector General of Police to the newsrooms saying among other things that “police have continued to intensify the crackdown on the ISIS network that is seeking to establish itself in Kenya in order to conduct terror attacks against innocent Kenyans.”
The IG also cautioned all PSV operators to be extra vigilant at all times and called on the public at the coast counties to report to police of any sighting of suspicious persons to police for action using a toll free National Police Service emergency number 999, 112 and 911.
Investigations into the network, linked to an ISIS planner Mohamed Abdi Ali who had contacts to the cell group in Syria led the police to arrest two Kangemi residents Kiguzo Mwangolo Mgutu and Abubakar Jillo Mohamed.
The two, the IG said were radicalized at Kangemi Mosque after which they were recruited into ISIS. Mohamed Abdi Ali was arrested in connection to the radicalization and members of the cell, he said are planning retaliatory attacks using home-made explosives.
According to the statement, the attacks were planned for Nairobi and Mombasa.
Police also recovered various materials that were used to manufacture IEDs at Kiguzo’s residence in Kangemi. The materials included nails, ball bearings, batteries, electrical wire, fertilizer, cell phones and other suspect explosive substances which have been taken for forensic analysis.
Kiguzo and Ali, the police say are among authors of a document that has been circulating online purporting the establishment of Jahba East Africa in which they declared allegiance to the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The IG similarly advised Kenyans to be more vigilant while in public transport or other social places to identify persons who may be behaving suspicious and report such to the police with urgency.
“The Police is working closely with other security agencies to ensure that the ISIS terror network in Kenya is dismantled and that their terror attack plans are foiled,” the statement says.
