REPORTS SAYS THE SUSPECTED TERRORIST WHO ESCAPED IN KENYA IS A WANTED CRIMINAL IN AUSTRALIA.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kiasumu City.

The Kenyan police at the coastal port City of Mombasa have arrested four more terror suspects.

The four were rounded up and taken into custody as they embarked out of an international flight at the Moi International Airport. The police, however, could not tell as to where the suspect’s flight had originated from.

The Coast Provincial Police Officer {PPO} Leo Nyongesa, said the suspects were not among those listed as dangerous terrorists on the police website.

“We are still interrogating them to find out more about them and that is why they have been taken to Nairobi,” he said.

An eye witness at the busy Moi International Airport said he saw five men being driven in a vehicle outside the Coast Provincial Police headquarters. The suspect, he added, were driven straight to Moi International Airport, located few kilometers outside the Coastal City, from where they were supposed to be flown to Nairobi.

But a source at the Airport alleged that all the airlines operating between the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and the Moi International Airport in Mombasa had declined and rejected them as passengers. It has yet to be confirmed whether the suspected flew to Nairobi or were given tight security escort by road.

Of late, the Kenya police have maintained intensive security surveillance in all major border points on illegal foreigners.

Meanwhile, information has emerged that the runaway terror suspect earlier arrested at the Kenya-Uganda border is wanted in Australia for allegedly planning to attack an army base in Sydney.

According to agencies and security sources in Nairobi, Hussein Hashi Farah had escaped a police dragnet in Australia that saw his four accomplices arrested for planning to attack Holsworthy Army Base and helping send people to Somalia to fight with al-shabaab Islamic militia, which is a proscribed terrorist group.

The other four suspects arrested in a dawn raid on 19 properties across Melbourne in Australia were identified as Abdirahaman Ahmed 25, Nayet El Sayed 25, Yacqua Khayre 21 and Saney Edow Aweys 26.

They were arrested last August 4, 2009, and have since been charged with conspiracy to plan a terrorist attack.

Prosecution in a Melbourne court alleged that Aweys, with four others, planned to arm themselves with guns and walk into the army base in Sydney Southwest, and kill many soldiers in a suicide attack.

Transcripts of Australia Federal police telephone intercepts tendered to the court last year showed Aweys praising Allah for coming down on the “filthy people” of Australia through the Victoria bushfires, global financial crisis and drought.

Official sources in Busia and Nairobi say Farah travel documents showed he had visited Kenya on November 25, 2009 and that he had landed in Addis Ababa and connected on a flight to Kampala, from where he found his way into Kenya.

His name, however, was put on the most wanted men list of terror suspects after Australian authorities alerted other international and friendly countries security agencies in the region.

“It seems he has been coming here and sneaked into Somalia,” said a senior police officer who requested anonymity.

Farah escaped from police custody hours after he had been arrested and booked at the Busia Police Station in Western Province two weeks ago.

The three police officers who handled Farah have already been interdicted by the force while two prominent businessmen have been charged with aiding a suspect escape from lawful custody. The incident happened on March 13, hours after the arrest.

Farah had in his possession Kshs 258,400, all in US dollars when the immigration official arrested him as he attempted to have his paper cleared for entry into Kenya from the Ugandan side of the border. He was supposed to have been escorted to Nairobi immediately under a tight police security for further interrogations.

Authorities believe Farah, who is on the list of prohibited immigrants, might have escaped and sneaked back into Uganda. Suspicion, allegation and rumors that the suspect might have used his dollars to bribe his way out of the police custody cannot be simply dismissed and wished away. Bu top security officers in Uganda came out spiting fire on Wednesday and categorically denied hat the suspected terrorist is in their country.

Farah holds an Australian passport. Anti-terror detectives had identified him as one of the operative Somalia based al-Shabaab militias and he has been placed on international watch list, but his mission in Kenya is not clear. Obviously his mysterious disappearance has embarrassed and dented the good image and reputation of the Kenya police force.

Investigations have since established that the suspect was given “special treatment” while in custody. Two anti-terror police units will soon be launched at both Busia and Malaba border posts, separating Kenya with Uganda in Kenya’s Western Province.

Following the terrorist’s disappearance, the Australia government has since written to the Kenya’s immigration Ministry demanding to know Farah’s whereabouts.

But Immigration Ministry in Nairobi has since in turn written to the Commissioner of Police, Mathew Iteere, requesting for more information on Farah’s whereabouts.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com