Two al-Shabaab recruiters are being interrogated by anti-terror detectives after they were arrested last week as they attempted to cross to Somalia.
Suleiman Hemed Mwandilo and Salama Salim Mohamed were apprehended in Takaba, Mandera as they tried to sneak out through the El-Wak - Boroache route.
An Intelligence report seen by The Star said the two are believed to be key al Shabab facilitators and recruiters in Mombasa.
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They, however, claimed that they were heading to Elwak to market fish products.
“The two are said to be active members in the facilitation and recruitment network in Mombasa. They are also accused of engaging in drug peddling and other petty crimes in Likoni," the police report said.
The suspects are said to be close allies to Ramadhan Hamisi Kufungwa’s network.
Kufungwa is a Kenyan fighter and a middle-level commander within al-Shabaab ranks in Somalia.
Born in Ukunda Kwale County,
Kufungwa
is also a key recruiter of youths mostly from Majengo and South Coast to join the terror network.
“Kufungwa is believed to have travelled to Somalia in 2011 after attending religious studies at Ijtihaad Madrassa and Maganyakulo Madrasatul Tawheed Islaamiya in Kwale County" police said.
He
later returned to become a fanatical adherent and follower of the late Muslim clerics Aboud Rogo and Abubakar Shariff aka Makaburi.
He is also reported to have gone back to Somalia where he leads a recruitment cell on the South Coast and Tanzania.
The network has reportedly spread its tentacles in the South coast and spread to Tanzania.
Police and National intelligence reports say al Shabab is targeting vulnerable youth including individuals HIV positive individuals and drug addicts who are then trained and sent back home as suicide bombers.
Police warn that although terrorist attacks targeting major towns have drastically gone down in recent years, it remains a major security threat in the country and urge police to be vigilant.
Last month security agents foiled a major terror attack and recovered a cache of weapons in in Isiolo County.
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