Attendant refused to register terrorists’ new mobile phone lines - probe

Detectives are trailing the movements of the three terrorists who had escaped Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and have stumbled on shocking details.

The three Musharraf Abdalla, Joseph Juma Odhiambo and Mohammed Ali Abikar attempted to establish contact with their counterparts in the underworld but were initially unable.

Police have established they were moved out of the prison facility in a private car and later driven to Machakos town.

Immediately after their arrival in Machakos, the convicts had refreshed, taken breakfast and bought caps to conceal their faces, in readiness for the rest of their journey.

They had also bought two mobile phones and were attempting to register SIM cards when the actions of a shop attendant jeopardized their plans.

The detectives have traced their movements and talked to the attendant who said the convicts who did not have Identity Cards and had prevailed upon the attendant to sell and register the SIM cards, but he refused.

They pleaded with the attendant to facilitate them at a fee but the attendant was adamant that unless they produced their national identification documents, then no help would come their way.

The car they used in their movement is being sought.

BOARDED MATATU

They moved on with their journey and took a matatu to Kitui on November 16 then the Endau area of Mwingi East.

But two mobile phones recovered in a thicket in Mutanda area, Nuu, Kitui County indicate the three had managed to register their lines.

Police said they are trying to establish where and how.

The two damaged phones had been abandoned in the thicket alongside a piece of paper with numbers written 'self' and 'wife' which indicates the terrorists were handed the gadgets as they left jail and were in contact with some people.

Police are analyzing the exhibits for further information.

This includes information on how the terrorists got money to enable their movements from Kamiti to Kamuluyuni village in the extreme interior of Kitui County.

They were captured last Thursday as they sought direction to Boni Forest, Lamu County.

And police believe the three were in communication with unknown men who were waiting to pick them in the Masalani area, a few kilometres away from where they were caught.

Their interception happened about eight kilometres from their intended destination of Kalamba where herders from Garissa and Wajir counties flock for pasture for their animals.

A court sitting at Kamiti Monday, allowed police to move them to the Anti-Terror Police Unit cells for ten days as investigators dig into their escape from the prison.

A magistrate allowed police to move them from maximum-security facility to among others avoid interference from some of the wardens who are under probe over the escape.

The same court also allowed police to hold six other wardens for another week in custody as they investigate them over the November 15 escape.

Seven others are in custody for 25 days since November 17 over the probe.

From Endau they hired motorbikes that they used in moving. Wednesday afternoon, thirst struck and Musharraf was sent to a watering point where he came across a woman who identified him.

The woman with others notified administrators who had already gotten wind of information on the presence of strangers.

The three claimed they were there for charcoal burning, and that Abikar was their boss.

SH60 MILLION BOUNTY

Police say they will honour their pledge of awarding a cash prize to Kenyans who aided a multi-agency security team in the arrest of the terrorists.

Inspector-General of Police Hilary Mutyambai said that the government will now commence a verification process in order to ensure that the reward goes to, “deserving recipients”.

“The government intends to honour its pledge on the cash reward offer. This will however be subject to a due verification process to ensure the reward goes to deserving recipients,” said Mutyambai.

He added the security nature of the incident and the risk of harm to those who genuinely aided the capture of the convicts may militate against full public disclosure of the eventual beneficiaries of the cash reward.

He said the rearrest of the suspects was made possible with the support from emcees of the public.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) placed a Sh60 million bounty on their recapture of the convicts upon provision of crucial information from members of the public.

There have been several claims by individuals to authorities seeking the bounty.

A team has since been sent to the ground in Kitui where the three terrorists were recaptured three days later as they headed for Somalia.

The team is supposed to talk to witnesses and authorities as they probe the matter. They are among others supposed to know who spotted the men first what the individuals did.

On Wednesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta sacked Wycliffe Ogalo as the Commissioner-General of the Kenya Prisons Service.

Kenyatta appointed and witnessed the swearing-in of Ogalo’s successor, Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba.

Abikar was charged and convicted in 2019 over his links to Al-Shabaab and for abetting the Garissa University attack of April 2015 that left 148 people dead while Odhiambo was arrested in 2019 for trying to join the Somali terror group.

Akhulunga was arrested in 2012 over a foiled attack on Kenya’s parliament and charged with possessing explosives, ammunition and firearms.

Edited by D Tarus