Somali national with forged ID card arrested

A Somali national has been arrested in Wajir County while attempting to secure employment using a Kenyan national identity card.

Abdi Hassan Ibrahim was seized at the weekend at Johwar location in Wajir East, where he was allegedly searching for job opportunities. He told the local chief, Mohamed Issack Abdille, that he had travelled from Garissa County.

Upon interrogation, he failed to give a satisfactory account of his presence in the country.

The 37-year-old was handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (APTU).

During questioning, he claimed he had come to Kenya to look for a herdsman’s job.

“He was handed over to APTU officers who are handling the matter,” said Wajir County Criminal Investigations Officer Francis Chirchir, adding that surveillance in the area has been heightened.

The Saturday night arrest came a day after President William Ruto announced in neighbouring Mandera County that the Kenya–Somalia border would be reopened after a 15-year closure imposed during the Al-Shabaab insurgency.

Speaking at Mandera Stadium on Thursday during the NYOTA Capital Disbursement event, Ruto said the government would double police deployment to secure the border while allowing cross-border trade to resume.

“We cannot trade with closed borders.

‘‘For that reason, I will be returning here in April to officially open the border post linking Kenya and Somalia,” said the President.

Cases of foreigners found with Kenyan identity cards have been on the rise since the President signed a proclamation abolishing vetting for individuals seeking ID cards in northern Kenya and other border counties.

While signing the Presidential Proclamation on Registration and Issuance of IDs to border counties at Orahey Grounds in Wajir Town in February last year, Ruto termed the practice unjust and disenfranchising.

“If it is about vetting, let all children of Kenya be vetted equally without any discrimination,” he said.

Since then, there has been a worrying trend of foreign nationals being caught attempting to acquire Kenyan nationality.

In November last year, a Somali national was arrested in Mandera County while in the process of acquiring Kenyan citizenship.

Assa Ali Issack was seized by APTU officers at Bulla Hawa, Mandera East, while trying to cross into Kenya.

The 31-year-old was found in possession of a Kenyan application for registration form, which he allegedly obtained from the Registrar of Persons offices in Saudi Arabia.

In the same month, Hajir Mohamed Garat was arrested in Ijara, Garissa County, in connection with the issuance of fake birth and death certificates. Several blank and partially filled birth notification forms, death notification forms, birth certificates, death certificates and rubber stamps were recovered from his cybercafé in Masalani centre.

Mohamed’s arrest came about two weeks after two people were seized in Garissa for allegedly fraudulently obtaining a birth certificate.

The suspects, 14-year-old Ayan Nur Hassan and 20-year-old Mohamed Moulid Mohamed, were seized at a police barrier at Tana bridge on November 6, 2025. Nur was found in possession of birth certificate s/no. 206834 entry no. l08915100563 bearing her full name while Moulid was accused of facilitating entry into Kenya of the teenager.

On the same day, 19-year-old Nima Hussein Elmi was arrested at the Mandera airstrip as she prepared to board a plane to Nairobi.

She was found in possession of a Kenyan ID no 540895256, and upon questioning, she disclosed that she was born in Luuq, Somalia. The multi-agency recovered from her Somali passport number p01742298 bearing the names Nima Hussein Elmi.