Kenyan security forces are on high alert
following intelligence reports that some Iranian operatives have sneaked into East Africa to try and free terrorism convicts of Iranian origin jailed in Kenya.
Sources within the Kenyan anti-terrorism agencies have confidentially told the Star there is a deliberate attempt to free the two convicts, following the first attempt in 2014.
Ahmad Mohammed and Sayed Mousavi were arrested in Nairobi with explosive substances in 2012.
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Security agencies have been put on high alert, with enhanced surveillance of Iranian nationals.
According to intelligence shared with Kenyan authorities, the operatives are suspected to be members of the Quds Force.
The Quds Force is the terrorist arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which works covertly in some cases as tourists or businessmen.
The group has been working to ensure its members held in foreign prisons are released.
Kenya has been alerted that the operatives could be planning either a prison break or target Israeli or US interests in the country.
Israel’s domestic intelligence service Shin Bet said Kenya had arrested “two senior (Iranian) Revolutionary Guard Corps operatives – Mohammed and
Mousavi
– who were in the midst of preparing a terrorist attack on an Israeli target in Kenya”.
Kenyan Investigators said at the time it was unclear whether the pair had ties to al Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia or were part of another network.
Mousavi and Mohammed filed an appeal at the apex court against their 15-year sentence for planning terror attacks in the country.
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The Iranians said they are innocent and had come to the country as tourists and to look into possible commercial ventures.
Anti-terror police believe that the Quds Force operatives were planning a plot which could have passed off as an al Shabaab attack.
Quds Force operatives spread Iran’s negative influences far and wide, and they have been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and attempted attacks globally.
They are highly trained and highly secretive and security agencies say their activities remain a threat to Kenya.
In 2015, Kenyan security forces arrested two Kenyans with links to Iran on suspicion of planning attacks in the country.
The Interior ministry initially identified both men as Iranians, but later said it had issued that detail in error and the two men had links to Iran, but were not Iranian nationality.
“The two men, Abubakar Sadiq Louw and Yassin Sambai Juma, have admitted to conspiring to mount terror attacks against Western targets in Kenya,” the ministry said at the time.
In February, police trailed a vehicle carrying weapons from Somalia and engaged a suspect in a shootout before killing him and arresting his two accomplices.
More than 1,000 bullets, 36 grenades, 18 IEDs and five AK-47 rifles were recovered from the suspect’s car.
Security agencies said the suspected terrorists were targeting Jogoo House – IG Joseph Boinnet’s office and the Supreme Court with the intention of forcibly freeing the two convicted terrorists.
In 2014, following an Interpol lead, a suspected Quds Force operative working in the country under diplomatic cover was forced to leave.
At the time, Interpol said the man – Mahdi Namehavar – arrived in Nairobi on July 13 and had tried to bribe senior government officials, including judicial officers, and plotting violent acts to free Mohammed and Mousavi.
Kenya has been working closely with international anti-terror agencies in an attempt to dismantle all terrorism cells that could have set root in the country.
Kenya has been a victim of major terror attacks such as Westgate on September 21, 2013, and Garissa University on April 2, 2015, that have had negative socio-economic impact.