Abdirahaman Abdi Takow who was on November 29, 2017 jailed for 30 years
by a Mandera court after he was found guilty of sneaking into the
Mandera GK Prison with the aim of spying for Al-Shabaab terror group.
PHOTO | COURTESY
A Mandera court has jailed for 30 years a Somalia national accused of spying for Al-Shabaab terror group.
Mr
Abdirahaman Abdi Takow, 22, was found guilty of sneaking into Mandera
GK Prison intending to collect information for the militants.
Mr Takow was arrested on September 14, 2017 by two prison officers manning a watch tower at the prison.
Mr
Hussein Osman Mursal, a prosecution witness and a warder at the prison
told the court during trial that the accused entered the jail through an
opening in the perimeter wall.
“I was at the watch
tower when I saw the accused person enter the prison through an opening
that construction workers were using while working on the perimeter
wall,” said Mr Musal.
REPORT CONNING
The witness said the accused informed him that he was going to report a matter to police within the prison.
“He
told me that someone had conned him Sh30,000 at the bus park promising
to help him travel to Nairobi and he wanted to report that to police,”
said the witness.
A second witness told the court that
the accused was with another person who was left outside the prison
premises and took off on realising that Takow had been arrested.
“Another
person was outside peeping through that wall opening and took off when
we attempted to get him,” said Mr Ali Mohamed Ibrahim, a prison officer.
Both
witnesses told the court that their seniors had informed them of a
planned attack on the prison by Al-Shabaab and they therefore remained
vigilant.
“The accused claimed that his money was
taken just outside the Mandera Police Station where buses are searched
by officers before leaving for Nairobi. He could not explain why he did
not report the matter to officers doing the screening only to come to
the prison,” he said.
SENT TO SPY
An
anti-terror Police officer told the court that the accused was a
Shabaab spy sent to gather information on the prison, police stations
and the military camp in Mandera Town.
“A multi-agency
interrogation team concluded that the accused was an Amiyat (Al-Shabaab
spying group) dispatched to Mandera to gather information,” said the
officer.
The ATPU officer told the court that
Al-Shabaab planned to attack several installations in Mandera including
the prison, police station, county offices, military camp and the county
referral hospital.
“After a successful attack by
Al-Shabaab on Somali National Army (SNA) camp at Bulahawa on September
11, 2017, we received [information] that their intelligence group
members were in Mandera before the accused was arrested,” he said.
The
accused did not explain his presence in the country but said he spent
the night in Bulahawa before crossing into Mandera, according to the
ATPU Officer’s evidence.
DEFENCE
In
defence, the accused told the court that he came into Mandera from
Mogadishu where he worked as a mechanic at garage at Yarshit but did not
give his reasons for visiting.
“I am not one of those people and I don’t associate with those people (Al-Shabaab). I am a refugee,” said Mr Takow.
Mandera
Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Areri, while sentencing the accused,
said the man did not deny evidence given in court.
“I
find the evidence is not denied, rebutted or contravened in any manner.
The same is overwhelming against the accused who has not given any
reason why he came all the way from Mogadishu and entered the prison
camp,” said Mr Areri.
The magistrate said the fact that
the accused had been at the police station and then went to the prison
camp led to the conclusion that he was surveying the camps for intended
terrorism attack.
“He was collecting information to
facilitate the terrorist attacks. I find him guilty as charged and
sentence the accused to 30 years imprisonment,” ruled Mr Areri.
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