60 detained at JKIA as operation ‘Operation Usalama Watch’ hots up

These women were found without Kenyan Identity cards in Eastleigh, Nairobi, and arrested.[PHOTO:JEFF OCHIENG/STANDARD]

By CYRUS OMBATI

NAIROBI, KENYA: Some 60 Somalis and Ethiopians were Saturday being held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport waiting to be deported in an ongoing security operation aimed at flushing out illegal immigrants.

They were to be deported Saturday but were informed the plane that was to transport them was not ready. This came as the government maintained it would continue with an operation to arrest illegal immigrants and expand it from Nairobi to other counties.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku, PS Mutea Iringo and police boss David Kimaiyo said separately that the operation had disrupted some of the plans hatched by terrorists, but remained guarded on specifics.

“These terrorists had made Eastleigh their launching pad. We will not relent,” said Lenku, adding they had used intelligence reports to stop more planned attacks.

POLITICAL NOISE

Interior PS Iringo said they were now seeking to move further afield from the capital in their search for foreigners who are in the country illegally. “They (police) will move to all parts of the country because we understand the illegal immigrants have moved from areas with intensified (police) attention,” he said.

Kimaiyo led a group of diplomats from the US, UK and other nations to the Kasarani holding centre where he said they would not be distracted from the operation because of the “noise” being made by politicians.

Saturday, Ole Lenku linked leaders opposed to the police crackdown in Eastleigh were involved in tax evasion and said they were now narrowing down on a number of businessmen that they may want to question.

Ole Lenku said government had compiled a report on businessmen and business enterprises in Eastleigh that have been evading taxes and are suspected to be involved in funding terror activity. Of these businesses, 20 bank accounts in Nairobi and Mombasa believed to be funding Somalia’s Al Shabab group are now under investigation, the Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro said.

“Out of this operation we have been able to get information on these accounts which we believe are funding the terror group,” said Muhoro. He said many of the Improvised Explosive Devices that were seized in the city in the swoop might have been manufactured by the same group in Eastleigh.

He cited the IEDs that went off at two food kiosks on March 31, killing six people and injuring 30 others, one that was found planted on a police lorry and one that went off in a house in Pangani area killing the man who was assembling it.

The terror groups had also planned to stage a major attack to avenge the killing of Abubakar Shariff Ahmed “Makaburi” and the police raid on a mosque in Mombasa, Muhoro said.

As state agencies continued to provide their status reports, more than 200 people who include refugees were being held Saturday for further interrogation after they were arrested in the ongoing swoop by police in Nairobi dubbed Operation Usalama Watch.

So far more than 100 have been deported and 50 others taken back to refugee camps. Most of those in custody were individuals who are in the country illegally, those outside the precincts of legally gazetted areas, and those who had non-authentic documents.

CRIMINAL HIDEOUTS

Those targeted in this operation are illegal aliens. The police are also seeking to arrest and prosecute those suspected of engaging in terrorist activities. They are also seeking to identify places harbouring criminals to contain and prevent general acts of crime and lawlessness.

At Kasarani stadium, those arrested are registered and asked to present their documents. Officials from National Registration Bureau, Department of Immigration, Department of Refugee Affairs, military and the anti-terror police units are involved.

Even Kenyans who did not have documents were at the camp. For those who have lost documents, their numbers are fed to the National Registration Bureau computers that are used to confirm their identity.

“Even Kenyans who have attained more than 18 years and have not acquired identification documents are charged in court for failing to do so,” said Kimaiyo.

Joshua Olang was among those being detained there and he said he was arrested in the city as he walked home. “My ID got lost and I am yet to replace it. They said they would confirm with the system if I took an ID but the problem is I have forgotten my ID number,” said Olang.

His brother has been camping outside the stadium in efforts to have him freed.

There were also Ugandans, Ethiopians, South Sudanese and Congolese nationals at the camp. Those who did not provide their papers were taken to court and charged with being in the country illegally.