Four suspects deny terror charges

Four suspects, among them an employee of the Somali embassy, were Tuesday charged with committing and planning terror attacks in Kenya.

By Paul Ogemba
Wednesday, February 05, 2014

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Four suspects, among them an employee of the Somali embassy, were Tuesday charged with committing and planning terror attacks in Kenya.

The first count against Mr Hassan Abdi Mohamud, Mr Mohammed Osman Ali, Mr Ilyas Yusuf Warsame and Mr Garad Hassan Fer, all from Somalia, was that of commissioning a terrorist attack at Java Restaurant at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on January 16.

In the second charge, the four were accused of being in possession of explosives — two kilogrammes of Trinitrotoluene (TNT) — on January 16 at Shauri Moyo shopping centre in Nairobi.

They faced other charges of being unlawfully in Kenya and obtaining Kenyan identification cards by presenting false information to registration bureaus in Isiolo, Wajir and Garissa between 2004 and 2011.

The suspects denied all the charges and their application to be released on bond was opposed by the prosecution on grounds that they were dangerous and if let free could carry out more terror activities in the country.

Prosecutor Fridah Mwanza argued that the accused have of no fixed abode in Kenya and were likely to flee to Somalia where they would never be traced to face justice.

“The accused have been in Kenya using forged documents and the investigations officer has discovered they frequent Somalia where they are members of Al-Shabaab,” said Ms Mwanza.

She supported her claims with an affidavit sworn by Mr Leonard Bwire, a police officer attached to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, who claimed that they had credible information that the explosion at Java Restaurant was planned and executed by the accused.

According to Mr Bwire, the suspects led police officers to their homes in Eastleigh’s Ushirika Estate where police recovered an inventory of items.

“Police recovered a very powerful military explosive from the suspects’ getaway car and residences and we have information that they still have unknown amount of explosives hidden in an undisclosed area and intended for terror attacks in the country.”

But lawyer Chacha Mwita, for the accused, argued that Mr Warsame, who is an employee of the Somali embassy, would not abscond court if granted bail.

Magistrate Doreen Mulyeko will make a ruling on the bail application on February 12.

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