Nairobi News

HashtagNews

Police to detain longer terror suspects arrested in Hilton hotel


Officers from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) are holding two terror suspects arrested in Hilton Hotel on Tuesday.

The suspects are being held on suspicion of planning a terror attack at the posh hotel, a subsidiary of the American based Hilton Worldwide Corporation.

Soon after placing their orders, the two are said to have started taking photographs of the hotel using their mobile phones, raising the hotel management’s suspicion.

Nairobi area police boss Mr Philip Ndolo told Nation that the anti-terror unit wants to establish the motive of the two suspects in sharing the photos.

Police found images of Al Shabaab militia on a training field in one of the suspect’s phone gallery.

“Investigations are ongoing, we cannot reveal anything at the moment,” Mr Ndolo said on phone.

Mr Raphael Gaa, the head of operations at Starehe police station who is standing in for the commander Central Police station, said the suspects were not armed at the time of the arrest.

“The incident took place on Tuesday. It is true it happened that way. The suspects were handed over to the ATPU,” confirmed Mr Gaa.

The incident happened barely a month after police warned of possible attacks during the just ended Ramadhan season.

The US Embassy has also issued a similar alert to its citizens living and visiting the country, warning them to stay alert since terror groupings have a history of carrying attacks over the Ramadhan period.

In January 2019, militants attacked Dusit D 2 Hotel, a high end hotel in Westlands, Nairobi.