Four terror suspects arrested with materials used to make explosives in Majengo, Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya: Four people who police termed as terror suspects were Saturday night arrested and 62 pieces used in making explosives, 11 mobile phones and 34 rolls of bhang recovered from them in Nairobi’s Majengo slums.

The four were arrested from a house in the area after police were tipped off that they were assembling the materials.

They were identified as Mohammed Yusuf Gulova, Jibril Kiama Musundi, Julius Kariuki and Mwanaidi Wanjiku. They are all Kenyans.

According to police, one of the suspects is a woman but they are yet to know the intended destination or target of the explosive materials.

Buru Buru OCPD Richard Kerich said they had been tipped off by members of the public who seemed to know the plans and movements of the suspects.

“We are yet to know what they were planning to do with the materials which experts term as dangerous. They are under interrogation,” said Kerich.

They were handed over to the Anti-Terror Police Unit for further interrogation and profiling Sunday.

Kerich added they suspect the mobile phones were to be used as detonators for the explosives.

The arrest came in the wake of intensified anti-terror operations in the city and other regions.

Majengo is a major breeding ground for terrorism and has been cited in various UN and local reports.

A number of youths, most of them Muslim converts have been radicalised and recruited from the area to join militant groups in fighting jihad.

Police operations in the area have also been intensified leading to “disappearance” of tens of the youth, most of who had been radicalised.

Terror incidents have been on the rise in the past months with terror group Al-Shabaab being blamed.

Security agencies have been fumbling in handling  the situation amid criticism from various stakeholders.

And in the wake of the situation several foreign agencies have relocated from the country to neighbouring countries.

The agencies including USAID are reducing their activities over insecurity.