•Mohamed Bashir was arrested as he closed his wholesale shop and taken across the border into Tanzania
•Kenyan police are investigating if he is connected to a human trafficking cartel operating at the border town of Namanga
A Kenyan businessman arrested by Tanzanian policemen at Namanga and bundled out of the country alleges he was beaten for 12 hours.
Mohammed Bashir, whose arrest on Tuesday last week caused demonstrations among Kenyans in the border town, said he was only released after Tanzanian authorities established they arrested the wrong person.
But Kenyan authorities said the 33-year-old Bashir is not out of the woods yet because the DCI is investigating claims that Tanzanian police linked him with cross-border human trafficking.
Kajiado Central sub-county police commander Issa Mohamed said the matter is being handled by DCI. The detectives want to establish if he might be linked to terror activities or human trafficking in Namanga.
Bashir told the Star on Saturday that he was "kidnapped" by a seven-member special Tanzanian police squad dubbed “Usalama wa Taifa” as soon as he closed his wholesale shop and ferried to Arusha.
“As as we crossed the border into Tanzania, the officers started raining blows on me as others used pistols to hit my knees, forehead, and back. I bled profusely as they beat me without talking or asking questions,” Bashir said.
The 104-km trip to Arusha was “hell on earth”, he said.
“As we arrived in Arusha, I heard their leader say 'let us drive to our headquarters', which is another 20 km out of Arusha where I was taken to a dark lit room for questioning. They asked me to identify myself, and I told them my name is Mohamed Bashir. As soon as they heard that, I received a slap across my face.”
He claimed the officer was disappointed because all along he thought they had arrested a man by the name of Jamal.
“They continued beating me, saying I am lying that I was not Jamal. I pleaded with them to return me to Kenya so I could show them my identification documents but did not listen,” Bashir said.
The businessman said the officers locked him up in a small dingy cage, the size car's boot, until the next day, when they released him in the afternoon.
“They told me to go back to Kenya and not to tell anyone that I was tortured after they took away my jumper jacket with blood stains. Four of them drove me back to Namanga,” said Bashir, who is being treated at Nairobi East Hospital in Eastleigh.