Is Al-Shabaab getting information through recruited female cops?

Some officers have claimed that organised criminal gangs have infiltrated the police service.

The officers identified terror outfit Al-Shabaab as one of the gangs that has penetrated the service and gained sensitive and classified information. The officers are blaming unnamed colleagues of wining and dining with dangerous crooks.

According to the officers, well financed Al-Shabaab members befriended some of their colleagues in a plot aimed at ensuring the terror group gets fed with police updates.

An officer privy to the happenings claimed female cops were the most vulnerable, as they were easily swayed with the allure of money and lavish lifestyles.

“The criminals are even invited into our police lines and camps since they get into intimate relationships with the officers. Even though we have (sic) employed our sisters into the service, sometimes it is dangerous,” added the officer.

Because of the dalliance of officers with the enemy, it was becoming extremely difficult to dismantle Al-Shabaab, he claimed.

The officer said: “Some female police officers who befriend them end up giving out crucial security information either inadvertently or intentionally, in exchange, the officers are given cash, cars, land or houses,” claimed the officer who felt ashamed of the low level of integrity.

It also emerged that Al-Shabaab was abandoning the use of grenades and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in favour of guns in a bid to conceal their tracks, according to intelligence shared with a section of officers.

“It is a new strategy aimed at causing more bloodshed and suffering among the poor,” said a security agent.

Head of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) Boniface Mwaniki did not respond to our calls and text message over the claims, while the director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Ndegwa Muhoro was unavailable for comment.

Al-Shabaab is among 33 criminal gangs that were banned by the government in 2011. Those found colluding with such gangs risk forfeiture of their property in a raft of punitive measures that were aimed at stifling organised crime.

Other proscribed gangs were Chinkororo, Amachuma, Sungusungu, Angola Msumbiji, Banyamulenge, Baghdad Boys, Charo Shutu, Coast Housing Land Network, Congo by Force, Dallas Muslim Youth, Forty Brothers, Forty Two Brothers, Jeshi la Embakasi, Jeshi la Mzee and Jeshi la King’ole.

Others are Japo Group, Kamjesh, Kamkunji Youth Group, Kaya Bombo Youth, Kosovo Boys, Kuzacha, Makande Army, Mombasa Republican Council, Mungiki Movement, Mungiki Organisation, Mungiki Sect, Republican Revolutionary Council, Sabaot Land Defence Force, Sakina Youth, Siafu and Taliban.