Kenya police release list of 15 Shabaab suspects

Posted by LORDRICK MAYABI on December 31, 2011

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 31 – Kenya Police have released photographs of 15 people believed to have information that can help in unraveling Al-Shabaab criminal activities.

The 15 are alleged to have left Kismayu recently, for Kenya, with some believed to have already entered the country with the intent of engaging in criminal activities.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the group comprises of nine Kenyans, two Asians and four Somalis aged between 24 and 32 years.

Kiraithe said: “Police have information that all the 15 left Kismayu recently headed for Kenya and some are believed to be already in the country.”

Police believe that most of the Kenyan suspects have resided in Majengo areas of both Nairobi and Mombasa, before leaving for Somalia about a year ago.

The Police have asked anyone with information on their whereabouts to report to the nearest police station.

They include people popularly know by the names Ramadhan Kioko, Mwarabu, Amar,Juma Ayub, Jamadar, Farhani Ayub, Ericko Budalangi, Bashir, Baba Nawal, Athman Hamed aka Asu, Abdi Samadi Wadud and Ali Hashim Muhogo.

Another suspect who goes by the name Habib Saleh Ghani alias Osama has been classified as ‘very dangerous’ by senior police sources.

According to a police source Bashir is believed to have played a crucial role in masterminding the kidnapping of a French woman in early October.
“We have found cause to believe that he was instrumental in planning and executing the kidnap of the French woman,” said the police source.

The handicapped Frenchwoman (Marie Dedieu ageed 66) who later died was seized from her beachfront home on Manda Island in the Lamu archipelago and taken to neighboring Somalia.

Over Christmas, police also released names of two men who security agencies allege have links with the Al Shabaab.
The two Hussein Nderitu Abbas of Siaya District and Sylvester Owino Opiyo of Nyeri who surrendered to the police on Christmas Eve were released without charges.
They reported back to the Anti Terrorism Police Unit offices on Friday where they had their bond extended.
Also on Saturday Police from the General Service Unit shot and killed 3 people of yet to be identified nationalities who tried to sneak into Kenya through Kiwayuni.

Five AK 47 rifles, 14 magazines and 372 rounds of ammunition were also recovered and their boat seized.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said that the three others are still on the run.

The six are said to have tried to sneak into the country on Friday morning and fled when challenged to stop by Navy officers before abandoning their boat at Kiunga. GSU officers were later called in to search for the fleeing militiamen; three of them were later gunned down.

The search for the three escapees whom police believe have bullet wounds has intensified in areas around the Mkokoni forest.

Meanwhile, police have maintained that they are on high alert as Kenyans engage in festivities to end the year.

Kiraithe said that police had invited all those planning events to discus security considerations and reaffirmed that that the use of fireworks remains unadvised as it may confuse officers on the vigil.

“It is very important that everybody complies with us in that respect for the security of all Kenyans, we will give the slightest sound of an explosion maximum attention,” assured Kiraithe.