Terror: Sh4m reward for capture of medical interns

Police have announced a Sh2 million reward each for the capture of two missing medical interns over alleged links to terrorism.

The interns, Farah Dagane and Ahmed Hish, who were attached to Kitale Hospital are missing or have gone into hiding after they learnt that they were being sought, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said yesterday.

Ironically, a group of civil rights activists had gone public on the disappearance of the duo and were planning protests after Friday's prayers in Nairobi.

But yesterday, Mr Boinnet said police had foiled a major terror plot involving the two and had arrested their accomplice, Mohamed Abdi Ali, also a practising medical intern.

Ali was arrested at his workplace at Wote Hospital in Makueni County on April 29 for allegedly planning various terror attacks, said Boinnet. He was presented in court on Tuesday and police were allowed to hold him for a further 30 days.

The police boss said Ali studied at Kampala International University in Uganda.

Initial probe

"From our initial investigations, it has been established that the terror network linked to Ali has been engaged in active radicalisation and recruitment of university students and other youths into terrorism networks," said the police chief.

He said the same network had been facilitating Kenyan youths to secretly leave Kenya to join terror groups in Libya and Syria.

"The suspects were planning large-scale attacks akin to the Westgate Mall attack with the intention of killing Kenyans. His (Ali's) network also included medical experts with whom they planned to unleash a biological attack in Kenya using anthrax," said Boinnet.

He said Ali's wife, Nuseba Haji, also a student at Kampala university and another associate, Fatuma Mohamed Hanshi, had been arrested in the Ugandan capital while attempting to escape.

Boinnet said Kenya was working with other agencies in the region to ensure the terror network was broken and those behind it arrested.

He urged those offering refuge to the wanted persons to surrender them even as he urged for information that would lead to their arrest.

A clinical pharmacist, Abdallah Waititu Iddi, 32, went missing last month and was yet to be found.

He had been the treasurer of Pumwani Riadha Masjid Nairobi since 2009.

Together with other members of the Pumwani Riadha Mosque Committee, they built one of the largest mosques east of Nairobi, which opened its doors in August 2013.

Duktur, as he was popularly known, often reported being trailed by mysterious cars as he went to work or performed his duties in Majengo.

Cases of Kenyan youth flocking Libya and Syria are on the increase.

In February this year, security was beefed up at major Kenyan airports following intelligence reports that the Al Shabaab terror group was planning to stage attacks.