A court in Kwale County has allowed police from the Diani police station to hold a suspect for 20 days to complete terror related investigations. The police in a miscellaneous application, asked the court to allow them hold Elias Abdulhamid, a Canadian citizen to investigate him on terror related activities.
In the application produced before Chief Magistrate Lilian Lewa, police through the office of the director of public prosecution sought to hold the respondent at the Diani police station to probe his nationality and links to ISIS and Al Shabaab.
Home Kenya KENYA Malindi: Al-Shabaab Trainer from Canada Detained on Suspicion of Planning Attacks in Kenya, Ethiopia Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 12:50 PM by Didacus Malowa A court in Kwale County has allowed police from the Diani police station to hold a suspect for 20 days to complete terror related investigations.
The police in a miscellaneous application, asked the court to allow them hold Elias Abdulhamid, a Canadian citizen to investigate him on terror related activities. In the application produced before Chief Magistrate Lilian Lewa, police through the office of the director of public prosecution sought to hold the respondent at the Diani police station to probe his nationality and links to ISIS and Al Shabaab.
The application revealed that the suspect was arrested within Lunga lunga border area trying to sneak into the country with no documents to identify himself. The police believed that he was involved in an offense and there was a need for him to be interrogated by different rebel ant agencies which will require more time.
“We need more time to interrogate the respondent since we believe him to have been radicalised into jihadist and extremist beliefs,” read the application. Rosemary Nandi from the office of the director of public prosecutions informed the court that Abdulhamid was on transit to Somalia through the Kenya Tanzania border to join the Al Shabaab terrorist group with intent to train and later carry out terrorist activities within Kenya and Ethiopia.
Intelligence Reports
Intelligence reports indicate that the respondent was arrested in Egypt in 2019 while trying to join ISIS terrorist group, further read the miscellaneous application. The miscellaneous application also revealed that the respondent is believed to have also tried to enter into the United States of America illegally but was stopped. Abdulhamid confessed to the police of having been acquitted in both cases as mentioned above as lack of evidence in Egypt and the United States of America.
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He pleaded with the Kenyan police not to repatriate him back to Canada where he is being sought for terror-related activities. They further told the court that it was prudent to check his mental status having incriminated himself by making a bold confession of his intentions to travel and join al shabaab terrorist group. The case will be mentioned at the same court on January 3.
