Kenyan security forces are grilling several suspects including the wife of one of the three wanted gunmen who abducted an Italian aid worker in Chakama Kilifi County on Tuesday last week.
Rukia Barre Nuno from Garsen, Tana River county was arrested after security officers intercepted her while conversing on phone with her husband, Said Adam Abdi, who is wanted in connection with the kidnap of Silvia Romano.
Police are also interrogating an inlaw of Abdi and several others who they did not name to establish the whereabouts of the gunmen who are believed to be hiding in the forest.
Abdi's inlaw is among three suspects named by police who offered Sh1 million bounties to the public for anyone who had information about them.
The suspects were arrested at Tarasaa area on Sunday evening as the operation to rescue Silvia intensified.
Nuno reportedly gave birth a week ago and was in contact with her husband to brief him about the newborn.
Abdi is said to have hired a room at a guest house in the area and left his identification details before he was joined by two other suspects who staged the attack.
Coast regional coordinator Bernard Jomo Lemparamai confirmed the arrest saying they are questioning her and the other suspects to establish the location of the gunmen.
"We have arrested the wife of one of the suspects who gave birth a week ago with the suspect’s inlaw. We know he loves his wife and we are asking him to release the aid worker," he said.
Security officers have sealed all routes leading to Boni Forest which the gunmen could likely use on their escape to Somalia.
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