Police and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) are investigating how a Somali national arrested for fraud in Eastleigh, Nairobi came into possession of the national identity card of the mastermind of the Garissa University terrorist attack that killed 148 people in April 2015.
The fraud suspect, Abdi Yusuf Ali, was found with an ID card belonging to Mohamed Kuno alias Sheikh Mahamud or Dulyadeen alias Gamadhere.
Gamadhere was a madrasa teacher and is believed to be a senior Al-Shabaab leader in Somalia and Kenya.
Mr Ali was charged on 1 April this year with obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 313 of the Penal Code after he allegedly defrauded a businessman of Sh6.5 million.
He was also charged with refusing to be fingerprinted by the police at Pangani Police Station contrary to Section 55 (5) read with Section 29 of the National Police Service (NPS) Act.
He denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi of the Makadara Law Courts and was granted bail in the sum of Sh500,000 with surety.
Corporal Hussein Hassan of Pangani Police Station, who is investigating the matter, had told Ms Mwangi in an affidavit that he doubted the suspect’s nationality, although he had a Kenyan identity card.
The police officer objected to the suspect being released on bail pending investigation into the identity card.
Cpl. Hassan said that Mr Ali had obtained the Kenyan ID at the age of 30, raising suspicions about the legitimacy of the document.
Further investigation revealed that the identity card used by Mr Ali belonged to the terrorist and the government is considering charging him for the attack.
The NIS is yet to establish Mr Ali’s connection and relationship with the Gamadhere family, or how the terrorist’s ID came into his possession.
Yesterday, Mr Ali was arraigned before Makadara Magistrate’s Court on an amended charge of obtaining registration by false pretences and forgery.
The suspect is accused of conspiring with others on various dates between 14 July 1987 and 19 February 2008 at Nanighi, a sublocation in Garissa County, to obtain a national identity card by falsely claiming to be the son of Ralia Mohamed Wardere, knowing it to be false.
The forgery charge alleges that during the same period, he forged a Kenyan National Identity Card and passed it off as a genuine one issued by the National Registration Bureau (NRB).
The suspect was also charged with being unlawfully present in Kenya after investigations revealed that he is a Somali national.
