A woman facing terrorist charges in Mombasa was arrested while travelling to Nairobi from Mombasa hiding in the back of a truck, a witness told the court in Mombasa on Friday.
Police claim Halima Adan Ali was on the run aboard a trailer when police intercepted her at a road block in Kyumbi along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
Police have claimed she was recruiting women into terrorist groups. She is charged along two other women from Malindi and a Zanzibari over alleged ties to terrorist organisations.
Police Corporal Silus Ikadi attached to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit headquarters in Nairobi told the court that Adan was travelling with four other passengers in the trailer.
Further, Mr Ikadi said Adan had admitted to being friends with Maryam Said Aboud, Khadija Abdulkadir Abubakar from Malindi and Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdalla from Tanzania, who were arrested on March 27 this year At El-Wak, Mandera Country, while trying to enter Somalia.
The corporal told Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo that he was instructed by his superior at around 4am in the morning, to go to Kyumi and intercept the trailer carrying the terror suspect.
Ikadi mobilised three officers and headed to Kyumbi.
At around 9am, he said, the officers intercepted the trailer with five occupants.
Ikadi said with the assistance of other officers at the roadblock, they arrested Halima Adan Ali who was a passenger, Mohamed Adan Ali , the truck driver, Mohamed Adan Ali, a passenger, Ismael Hussein Fakar, the co-driver and conductor Jackson Msusyeki Turnman.
“At the police station, we conducted a search and confiscated their passports identity cards, phones and driving licences,” said Ikadi.
The corporal said they recovered from Adan two mobile phones containing Safaricom and Airtel SIM cards, and a Kenyan identity card.
The court heard that after the search, commanding officer Josphat Bonya ordered all the occupants, including the driver, be moved from Kyumbi Police Station to the Anti-terrorism Police Station in Nairobi for further interrogation.
However, the officer could not proceed after the prosecutor, Eugene Wangila, asked to have his witness stand down for lack of the confiscated items in court.
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