Kenyan police arrest 3 wanted terrorist suspects

Kenyan police said on Thursday that they have arrested three wanted terrorists during joint security operations conducted in the coastal town of Malindi.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett said Ali Hussein Ali, alias "trusted one", and his accomplices Ibrahim Abasheikh Mukhtar and Abdi Mohamed Yusuf, alias Dader, were arrested during operation carried out by security agencies on Tuesday in Malindi.

"Ali is involved in human smuggling and terrorism financing. The suspects have links with ISIS and Al-Shabaab terror groups and the Magafe Human smuggling network in Libya," Boinett said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

He said Ali and Mukhtar house recruits and illegal immigrants in lodges within Eastleigh in Nairobi, Malindi and other areas before facilitating their travel to Libya through Kampala via Busia border and thereafter to Juba and finally into Libya.

According to Boinett, Yusuf, a long distance driver and a personal driver to Ali, is involved in ferrying the recruits from one destination to another. He also has links with ISIS and Al-Shabaab agents in Libya and Somalia.

"On arrival to Libya, the recruits and illegal immigrants are detained by criminal gangs (Magafe) and would only be released upon payment of ransom between 2,500 U.S. dollars to 7,000 dollars," he said.

Boinett said the money is transferred through hawalas (money transfer service) in Kenya to Mogadishu. The ransom is channeled into financing ISIS in Libya.

"Recruits and illegal immigrants captured in Libya have been requesting for assurance from their family members back in Kenya. The funds sent to Magafe are meant to secure their release," he said.

Boinett said ISIS recruits would take advantage of the situation to extort their family members by making false claims of capture in order to finance their extremist activities.

The police chief said security agents have established that about 10 families in Kenya are currently being extorted to raise money to pay ransom.

Some of the recruits, whose parents paid ransom, perished in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross over to Europe.

"This current multiagency security operation is part of sustained efforts to ensure the safety and security of all Kenyans," he assured.

Kenya faces insecurity as bomb attacks using improvised explosive devices and grenades have been carried out in the capital Nairobi, the coastal city of Mombasa and northern eastern region since soldiers entered Somalia in 2011 to secure the shared border with the lawless country.

Nairobi has also warned that attacks as threatened by the Somali-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab could affect the country's risk profile limiting the number of new investments being made, especially by foreign investors as well as affect the number of tourists. Endit