• During detention, police will collect details of all persons suspects have been in contact with
• They are being investigated for conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and being a member of a terrorist group
Three terror suspects arraigned on Tuesday for taking pictures of Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel in Nairobi will be detained for five days pending investigations.
On Wednesday the court ordered the three to be held in different police stations as the probe is carried out.
This follows an application by police to detain the suspected terrorists nabbed on Sunday.
Abdi Mohammed Guled, Ibrahim Mohammed Guled and Mohammed Bashi Aden were allegedly in possession of items including Kenyan IDs, mobile phones and electronic gadgets which police forwarded to Anti-Terrorism Police Unit laboratories for forensic analysis.
In the affidavit sworn by ATPU's sergeant Joseph Mwiti, the trio was arrested on suspicion of carrying out surveillance at the hotel premises ahead of carrying out a terrorist attack.
“The respondents were covertly taking photographs at the hotel and when questioned, they did not give an explanation,” Mwiti told Milimani court magistrate Elekta Rihani on Tuesday.
The investigating officer applied for more time to collect details of all the persons the suspects have been in contact with both in Kenya and outside.
“I want to retrieve their digital prints for forensic examination as well as examine their social media accounts. It is important for them to be detained by the ATPU to enable detailed criminal enquires to be carried out,” the officer said.
The court heard that intelligence reports so far show that the suspects have other associates at large.
“There is a need to carry out detailed interviews with the suspects and their associates to find out their co-conspirators."
The three are being investigated for conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and being a member of a terrorist group which attract sentences of a term not exceeding 20 years and 30 years respectively.
Edited by R.Wamochie