Lawyer Chacha Mwita at the court
A court granted detectives a 14-day custodial order to detain Andrew Chacha Mwita, a prominent Mombasa-based lawyer.
Mwita was arrested in Mombasa town on November 14, 2025, on allegations of soliciting and supporting terrorist groups.
Following his arrest, he was transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) headquarters in Nairobi on November 15, 2025, for further investigation.
He appeared before the Kahawa Law Courts on November 17, 2025, in a miscellaneous application seeking the custodial order necessary for comprehensive investigations.
The ruling on the application was postponed until Wednesday, November 19.
Detectives claim that he used multiple mobile phone numbers to receive funds from Binance accounts allegedly connected to the financing of terrorist activities both locally and internationally.
The prosecution, led by James Machirah, outlined the charges before Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage, while Mwita’s legal team strongly denied the allegations.
Advocates Lempaa Soyinka and Ayota Magati argued that providing legal representation to terror suspects is not a criminal act, describing the case as an attempt by the State to frustrate lawyers from offering their services to accused individuals.
Mwita is a veteran lawyer, well known in Kenyan courts for defending clients facing terror-related charges over the past decade.
The prosecution wanted him to be held for 20 days. In the ruling delivered as scheduled, the court granted detectives 14 days to detain Mwita, effective from November 17, 2025.
The case is coming up for mention on December 1, 2025.
Mwita was among 22 individuals who fell into the dragnet of a counterterrorism operation targeting terror supporters, financiers, and beneficiaries in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kapseret, Moyale, and Marsabit.
This followed a sting operation led by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit for financing terrorism.
The operation also netted other suspects accused of facilitating radicalisation, recruitment, and financing terror activities nationwide.
A custodial application hearing for Richard Muriuki Murimi, Said Galgalo Duba, Ali Mohamed, and Dhalha Abdi Mohamed, who were nabbed in Nairobi, was heard on November 18. The court allowed police to detain them for two weeks.
Anthony Odhiambo Odwuor, who was traced to Kapseret, Eldoret, will equally know his fate on November 25, 2025, when a ruling on the 15-day custodial order sought against him will be made.
Further, the court will make a decision on November 26, 2025, regarding a miscellaneous application for a 20-day custodial order against Miriam Ali Abdalla and Aisha Abdullahi, who were arrested in Mombasa.
On the same day, Fatuma Yabalo Guyo, Jilo Arafti Halake, Ajirena Halake Sora, Safia Ture Bidu, Kabale Duba Ali, and Abdisalam Hassan Charfi, who were arrested in the neighbourhood of Marsabit, will also know the outcome of the 30-day custodial order sought against them.
The miscellaneous application hearing against the seven remaining suspects took place on Tuesday at the same court, and police were granted time to hold them.
Anti-terrorism police said they had disrupted what they described as one of the most intricate terrorism facilitation networks identified in the country in the ongoing fight against extremism.
This followed extensive intelligence-led inquiries and a series of coordinated operations by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU). Officials said the probe had extended to neighbouring countries.
Central to the matter are approximately ten young recruits who were arrested earlier this year while allegedly preparing to leave the country for a mission.
Their detention has reportedly been pivotal in guiding investigators toward the broader network.
The recruits are said to have been influenced online and through local contacts before being moved through Kenya to Puntland in northern Somalia, and later to Yemen.
These areas are described by security officers as transit points for individuals aiming to connect with ISIS affiliates as pressure mounts on the group’s strongholds elsewhere.
Police said the material evidence includes bank transfers, hotel booking records, cross-border travel documents, and various digital transactions processed through cryptocurrencies, which operate outside the traditional banking system.
