Police monitoring Adebolajo ‘associates’

By DAVID OCHAMI and WILLIS OKETCH

KENYA: Police in Mombasa claim that eight men arrested in November 2010 alongside British terror suspect Michael Adebolajo over terrorism claims are still under their surveillance.

This as reports emerged suggesting the Briton maintained ties with the men after his deportation.

The communication is said to have been partially through contacts in Lamu and Mombasa using the Internet.

Yesterday, Coast PPO Aggrey Adoli announced that although police had no evidence linking the Briton and his co-accused to terror activities, they were monitoring the movement of   after they tried to sneak into Somalia.

A human rights agency, Muslims For Human Rights (Muhuri), disclosed yesterday that it could account for only one former associate of Adebolajo.

Meanwhile, according to an intelligence official who asked not to be named, communication between Adebolajo and some of his associates were briefly halted following the August 27, 2012, killing of radical Islamist and terrorism suspect Sheikh Aboud Rogo.

The official said they believe Rogo brainwashed Adebolajo after they met at a mosque in Majengo, Mombasa, and Lamu where the British suspect allegedly took Islamic lessons.

“They are still under surveillance even now,” claimed Coast PPO Adoli, referring to the eight men and boys arrested with Adebolajo two and a half years ago.

 No evidence

 He did not explain why they are still under surveillance even after admitting no evidence linking them to terror was found when they were detained near Somalia in 2010.

“They normally appear before the police every week,” he added.

Adoli claimed most of the men under surveillance live in Nairobi, but The Standard learnt that some o live in Mombasa and police planto re-arrest them. On Sunday anti-terror police in Mombasa shot and killed Khalid Hamed, a muslim cleric and fugitive who was also a known associate of Rogo’s.