Kenyan anti-terrorism police arrested a suspected Al-Shabaab recruiter and financier in the coastal city of Mombasa as authorities intensify crackdown on the militants from Somalia Midnimo.com reported on Saturday evening.
Mombasa County Police Commander Robert Kitur said the police nabbed a 45-year-old Abdalla Salim Bindo for alleged association with funding and recruiting youth to join the militant group in Likoni and Kwale towns in the coastal region.
Kitur said Bindo was picked for questioning from a restaurant near Kenya Ferry Services and driven to his house where the officers ransacked for vital documents.
“We are interrogating him over terror related activities. More details will be shared later,” Kitur told Xinhua in Mombasa.
Sources within Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) said the suspect is operating terror cells within Likoni and Kwale towns. According to police Salim is the chairman of Likoni Community Development Sacco that was registered last year.
Police believe the Sacco is used to lure youth to join the Al- Shabaab group. His mobile phone has been handed over to specialists to analyze the contents following reports that he had made several international calls.
The suspect will be charged in court on Monday for engaging in terrorism activities on Monday.
The security forces said Al-Shabaab members who include Kenyans from Mombasa, Lamu, Kwale and Malindi regions in the coast are now back following the defeat of the group by Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) under the Amison forces in Somalia.
The militants are believed to behind a spate of unresolved murder incidents in the coastal region including the killing of police officers in Mombasa.
There are also intelligence reports that Somalia militants, Al- Shabaab returnees who have sneaked into the country from Somalia are planning attacks on unspecified dates and locations.
Meanwhile, police have released names of main suspect behind the shooting of woman informer in the coastal city Friday.
The suspects identified as Ismael Shosi is a brother of slain suspect Idris Shosi killed last year in Bondeni residential estate in Mombasa by police officers.
National Intelligence Service (NIS) say Shosi had accused Ruwaid Abdulmajid of setting up his brother and had vowed to retaliate.
Ruwaida and a male friend are admitted at the hospital after they were shot on Thursday night by Shosi gang who escaped in a private car.
He had escaped by climbing out of the roof of a house, scaled the perimeter wall and disappeared when police raided their house and killed his brother.
The two brothers were Al-Shabaab returnees behind the shooting of Germany and Russian tourist in the coastal city. Enditem
