The shocking story inside Boni forest discovery

Some of the Security operations around Boni Forest areas in lamu County. PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD

Security officers have discovered shocking paraphernalia in an abandoned camp deep inside the vast Boni forest. The officers were conducting an operation against Al Shabaab fighters.

The camp that appeared recently vacated had an interesting find of pornographic DVDs, condoms, several empty bottles of alcohol and assorted drugs.

Most wanted

It is the same camp from which a couple of women recently escaped. The women have since identified two most wanted Al Shabaab  militants - Issah Abdallah Ahmed aka Kauni and Ahmed Said mar alias Dogo as their rapists. It appears the militants deserted the camp in a rush as they left behind a number of personal effects including a laptop currently under forensic audit,” an intelligence brief said.

The officers who raided the makeshift camp deep inside the forest last Monday also found a laptop, military uniform, AK 47 magazines, blankets, boots, jerrycans, syringes and cooking pots.

Security forces operating in Boni forest on Monday at around 2pm raided an Al Shabaab hideout while on patrol inside the forest.

The discovery has put to question the group’s purported religious fight, with several Al Shabaab terrorists being accused of abducting and holding women captives as sex slaves within the forest.

Intelligence reports indicate that returnees who managed to escape from Al Shabaab camps in Somalia confess to systematically being drugged before being sent to the front line.

The returnees have also confirmed the presence of women in segregated areas of the camps only accessed by older members of the terror group. 

According to the returnees, the use of alcohol and drugs is a common way of celebration among the militants, especially after successful attacks on the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) forces camps in Somalia or border towns in Kenya.