Somali terror suspect denies escape from Dadaab camp

A Somali suspected of terrorism was yesterday charged in a Mombasa court with residing outside a designated refugee camp.

Abdirahman Ahmed Abdullahi appeared before senior principal magistrate Richard Odenyo.

He admitted that he was found outside the refugee camp at Ganjoni in Mombasa town on April 3.

The court was informed that police officers from the elite Flying Squad got a tip off from the members of public that there was a Somali national whom they suspected to be a terrorist.

Following the tip off, the officers proceeded to the area, arrested the accused and escorted him to Kwale for further investigations.

Edwin Munoko, a police officer attached to the CID headquarters Mombasa county swore an affidavit in which he said they had established that Abdullahi was a Somali national and had in possession an identification card indicating that he was a refugee at the Daadab camp.

However, Munoko informed the court that he was not able to establish if Abdullahi had any terror links.  He only managed to establish that Abdullahi did not explain his reasons for leaving the refugee camp for Mombasa.

The identification card was produced in court as exhibit.

In mitigation, Abdullahi told the court that he did has not been involved in any terror activity and that he had travelled to Mombasa from Nairobi in search of employment.

He also informed the court that he was a business man in Nairobi before he came to Mombasa, However, he could not explain to the court his reasons for abandoning the refugee camp.

The prosecution asked the court to treat the accused as a first offender since they did not have previous criminal records of him.

The magistrate directed the accused to be remanded at the Shimo la Tewa prison and appear in court on Wednesday for judgment.