Fear and anxiety have gripped parts of the Coast following raids and “arrests” of suspected terror suspects by people believed to be elite police officers.
The latest incident happened in the wee hours of last Sunday when masked gunmen in black outfits raided Mtondia madrassa in Kilifi and seized clerics Khalid Swaleh and Ustadh Juma Shamte and a gardener only been identified as Hassan.
The Markaz Noor madrassa raid was disclosed by a Mombasa cleric in a Facebook alert as he asked the faithful to pray for his seized colleagues.
“Let’s make dua (prayer) for him and also spread the word to family and friends,” the cleric pleaded.
Relatives said the raiders, among them a woman, arrived in a double-cabin Nissan pickup and a Toyota Fielder armed with guns and batons.
They beat and roughed up those sleeping in the madrassa as searched for the clerics and the gardener.
The accusing finger was pointed at the “special” Anti-Terror Police Unit squad.
But top Coast security bosses said they were unaware of the raid. Kilifi North deputy county commissioner Josphert Mutisya denied knowledge of the raid.
“We are not aware of that operation. There is nothing I can say about it,” he said.
The weekend arrests were the latest on the homes of people suspected to be coordinators of terror activities in the past few months. The whereabouts of some of the seized suspects is unknown.
People the Star talked to say the raiders are taking advantage of the coronavirus curfew as nobody dares go out to check on the victims, fearing arrest.
While the curfew has diverted the attention of the regular police from terrorism surveillance, al-Shabaab terror gangs are also feared to have reactivated their terror cells.
A close relative of one of the abducted clerics is said to have told the police that the cleric had been receiving phone calls from unknown people in Somalia.
Police raided the same madrassa in 2017 and arrested the lead cleric, who was questioned at the Malindi Directorate of Criminal Investigations office on international calls originating from the madrassa and claims of terror recruitment.
He was later released. Also arrested in the madrassa were youths aged between 15-20 years from different parts of the country.
Pictures released by human rights activists show broken doors, ransacked wardrobes and the madrassa’s destroyed CCTV servers.
“They took our phones and our small TV, searched the house demanding to know how many passports Swaleh has. After taking our pictures they said they will book him at the Malindi police station,” a statement recorded at Mtondia Police Station states.
Mobile phones were taken away after the beatings victims were forced to disclose the passwords. Also taken away were the black books with the details of disciplinary processes of madrassa attendees.
Some local leaders had no doubt that the raids and arrests are the work of police.
On Wednesday, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir warned senior police officers to tread carefully lest they find themselves at international courts of justice.
“We are reminding the police bosses to also remember there were others who were like them – even more powerful – and today they are in international courts of justice,” Nassir said.
He said judicial, political and societal pressure would be used to ensure justice is done.
“It is not for me to remind them of consequences. It is for them to realise the consequences of their actions and inactions,” he said, adding: “If it smells like a fish and tastes like a fish, then in all likelihood it is a fish.”
Haki Africa rapid response officer Mathias Shipeta said they have documented more than 100 cases of disappearances and extrajudicial killings since early last year.
Lawyer Yusuf Abubakar is also convinced the police are involved.
He described as dangerous the trend of Kenyans losing their lives or loved ones without trace with police denying involvement.
A source privy to the Sunday raid, who chose not to be named, told the Star: “The fact that they only took the three and left others mean they knew who they were looking for.”
A similar raid happened on August 13 during which a man was picked up by masked men believed to be police officers at his Mtongwe home in Mombasa.
Abubakar Kalama, 25, was whisked away as his family watched. Pleas to be told what was going on fell on deaf ears. Since then nothing has been heard about him.
“We have searched in all police stations in Likoni and Mombasa Island and even at the Coast General Referral Hospital morgue but all has been in vain,” his sister Pili Hassan told journalists on Saturday.
The family said Kalama was a carpenter and mechanic with no criminal past.
In both the Kilifi and Likoni raids, the gunmen were in police fatigue. They ordered family members to lie down and count 1-1,000.
Similarly on July 20, police took away Alfan Ali Juma from his Utange home in the presence of his family.
Ali had been arrested in 2018 in Mandera en route to Somalia and has had several court appearances.
On April 24, a police multi-agency team gunned down Kennedy Okaka Otunge, a terror suspect in Likoni and recovered an AK-47 rifle, three 7.62mm-calibre bullets and a magazine.
According to police reports, Okaka and accomplice Ali Godza, who escaped, were planning to attack Likoni Police Station. Two days later, Godza was killed by an elite police unit at Ngerenya in Diani, Kwale.
On May 30, suspected al-Shabaab militant Mohamed Mapenzi was killed in his house in Kibundani, Kwale. A suspected al-Shabaab recruiter, Saidi Chitswa, had led the police to his hideout.
Two minors Mapenzi was using as a shield were fatally injured. A grenade and assorted jungle uniforms, and mobile phones were recovered from the house.
The latest events are a pointer that al-Shabaab returnees could be plotting to rain terror on the Kenyan Coast.
Infographic
Raids on alleged terror suspects homes in 2020
- August 15 – Hooded gunmen in military fatigue raid Markaz Noor Madrassa in Mtondia, Kilifi North and arrest two Muslim clerics and a gardener.
- August 13 – Gunmen storm house of mechanic Abubakar Kalama and whisk him away after forcing the family to lie down at Shika Adabu in Likoni, Mombasa.
- August 6 – US issues travel advisory on its citizens warning against travelling to Kenya-Somalia border and some parts of the Coast over terrorism.
- July 20 – Police knock at the door of a terror suspect Ali Juma in Utange, Mombasa, and take him away.
- May 30 – Multi-agency security team kill a suspected terror suspect Mohammed Mapenzi and two minors he was using as a shield in Kibundani, Kwale. Police recover grenade, police uniforms and mobile phones.
- April 26 – Police kill wanted terror suspect Suleiman Ali Godza in Diani, Kwale. They said he was the local al-Shabaab leader who had killed two police officers guarding an ACK church in Ukunda in 2017.
- April 24 – Terror suspect Kennedy Okaka Otunge killed in a shootout during a raid on his Likoni house by elite police unit. Police recover an AK 47, bullets and a magazine.
- January 2 – Three passengers killed in suspected al-Shabaab attack on a bus convoy along the Lamu-Garsen road. Security agents kill four of the attackers.