An Eldoret court has allowed detectives attached to the Anti-Terrorist Police Unit to hold seven Somali illegal immigrants for five days.
According to police, the suspects are suspected of engaging in criminal activities in contravention of the Prevention of terrorist act number 30 of 2012.
While making an application to detain them before Eldoret principal magistrate Barnabas Kiptoo on April 18, 2023, the investigating officer told the court the suspects who include three women and four men were arrested at an Eldoret hotel following a tip-off from members of the public.
The investigating officer told the court the suspects are in the country unlawfully since by the time of their arrest they did not have valid passports to verify their mission in the country.
They were arrested on April 15, 2023, and upon interrogation, the majority of them were unable to express themselves neither in Kiswahili or English.
The suspects were identified as Abdikadir Ali Hussein, Aidarus Mohamud, Ahmed Koshin, Liban Abdi Sugule, Naima Yusuf Ahmed, Fartum Sugule and Leylo Abshir.
“We arrested them on April 15, they are suspected to be engaging in criminal activities in contravention of the anti-terrorist act of 2012. They are in Kenya illegally contrary to immigration act of 2011 and we want to detain them for five days pending investigation,” the investigating officer told the court.
Police requested the court to allow them to detain the suspects at Eldoret Central police station for the next five days.
The suspects through a Somali interpreter did not object to their detention for five days.
“Since the accused have not objected to the application by the investigating officer, this court has ordered that they will be detained at Eldoret police station for five days to enable police to complete their investigations, “directed the Magistrate.
The matter will be mentioned on April 24, 2023.
The incident comes at a time immigration officers at the Kenya-Somalia and Ethiopia border point in Moyale are on the spot following an upsurge of illegal immigrants from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Statistics from the immigration department indicate that there has been an influx of foreigners entering the country at Moyale since September 2018.
