Mum of Dusit attack suspect, three others to be detained for 30 days
Four more people, including the mother of one of the terrorists killed in a gunfight with commandos at a Nairobi business complex last week, were on Monday arraigned over the attack, which left 21 people dead.
Ali Salim Gichunge’s mother Sakina Mariam Abdalla, George Ndung’u, Mukhtar Ibrahim and Isaak Hussein appeared at the Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi, but police sought and got orders to detain them for more days as they conduct investigations into the terrorist raid.
Apart from Ms Abdalla, who was detained for 10 more days, the other suspects will all be held for 30 days.
COMMUNICATED WITH ATTACKER
Mukhtar is believed to have communicated with one of the attackers and facilitated his movement on Tuesday before the terrorist incident. He is an assistant sheikh in Mandera Town. He was arrested on January 19, near Jamia Mosque in Mandera.
Isaak, on the other hand, is an Ethiopian national, and was arrested on January 19, near Mandera Town alongside Mukhtar.
Police said they needed to detain Gichunge’s mother longer in order to scrutinise call data and financial records, to establish whether she was telling the truth about her relationship with her son.
She told police that her son was first employed by one Mama Sammy as a cybercafé attendant, earning Sh5,000 per month, within Isiolo Town before he moved to Shams Cyber in the same town.
Gichunge later met another man, who promised him a cybercafé job in Mombasa, she added.
But, after he left in 2014, he went underground and only called her in 2016, to inform her that he had landed a scholarship in Mogadishu to study Islamic Religious Education.
ELECTRONIC GOODS CONFISCATED
“That’s the last she heard of him until this attack happened,” the court document indicated, adding that the detectives needed more time to also examine some electronic goods that were confiscated from Ms Abdalla.
The Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU), the affidavit states, is interviewing other people believed to have connections to terrorism, reviewing their financial records and examining their call data.
The arraignment brings to 10 the number of people who have been arrested over Tuesday’s attack — a fourth suspect, George Ndung’u, was detained for 10 days.
Five other suspects, including a Canadian, were charged last week over the attack. They include Joel Ng’ang’a Wainaina, Oliver Kanyango, Gladys Kaari, Guleid Abdihakim, and Osman Ibrahim.