Police are holding two medical university students allegedly radicalised in Malindi and lured to join the Islamic State group.
Mohamed Yerrow, an intern medical doctor at the Malindi Subcounty Hospital, was arrested alongside his associate Abdulrazak Abdinuur in a joint operation on Sunday.
Initial investigations revealed Yerrow is part of the first IS recruitment network in the country. The two were allegedly recruited by Mohammed Ali, one of the students arrested after police foiled a planned anthrax attack on April 29.
Police said Ali has a wide network at the Coast, Western, Northeastern, Rift Valley, Somalia, Libya and Syria.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said Ali and his accomplices were planning a large-scale biological attack using anthrax. He said he studied at Kampala International University in Uganda before returning to Kenya.
Senior Anti-Terror Police Unit officers involved in the operation said detectives intercepted communication between the two as they planned to travel to join the IS militants.
“They intended to move to Puntland, Somalia, to join the IS cell there, which is under Sheikh Muumin. The two were planning to acquire fake travel documents to facilitate their escape,” the officer said.
“We suspect they are the latest batch of university students lured to join IS in Libya and Syria.”
The officer said the two are part of a wide network of medical students targeted by IS with the promise of better jobs. They were allegedly lured to join the group while training at the Saratov University in Russia.
Police said the two come from Mandera and joined the Russian university to study medicine. They were living together in a hideout in Malindi, where they were arrested.