Officers attached to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) on Sunday, November 28 nabbed a terror suspect who they believe was planning terror attacks in Nairobi.
Mohammed Saeid Golabi who is an Iranian national has been on the police radar for months and is accused of planning terror attacks against local and Israeli interests in Kenya.
A source attached to ATPU said that the suspect was closely being monitored believing he had something to do with terrorism.
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“We have profiled him and his contacts over time. We have enough reason to believe that he has been working with those terror groups,” a senior official at ATPU said.
Detectives believe that Golabi has been working with a section of Kenyans in his terror-linked activities.
They said that the Kenyans were assisting the terror suspect in gathering intelligence in the country.
The arrest comes at a time when East Africa at large has been hit by a series of terror attacks in the recent past.
In the last month, Uganda has witnessed three terror attacks which have led to the deaths of tens of its citizens and several others left with injuries.
Two weeks ago, three terror suspects who were being detained at Kamiti Maximum Prison escaped from jail but we’re later nabbed as they headed to Somalia.
The three terror suspects were identified as Musharaf Abdallah Akhulunga alias Shukri, Mohamed Abdi Ali Abikas alias Mohamed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo.
This is not the first time an Iranian national has been nabbed in Kenya on matters linked to terrorism.
In 2015, two Iranian nationals were nabbed by officers drawn from ATPU for allegedly planning an attack in Nairobi.
Officials from the Ministry of Interior then said that they were planning to attack Israeli interests in Kenya.
In 2012, sleuths also nabbed two Iranian nationals who were found in possession of 15kg of explosives and they were planning to carry attacks in Nairobi.
In the two arrests made in 2015 and 2012- the Kenyan authority could not establish whether they were linked to Al Shabaab terrorist group or Al Qaeda.
The matter was also raised with the Israeli government which said that they had intelligence reports that some Iranian nationals were planning to carry attacks in Nairobi.
