How ATPU busted prominent lawyer over alleged terror financing linked to ISIS

A prominent criminal lawyer was arrested on Friday by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) in Mombasa and ferried to Nairobi for interrogation ahead of his arraignment in court on Monday over claims of terror financing.

The lawyer, who has defended terror suspects in the past, is reported to have played a role in the financing and facilitation of the movement of youth to Somalia, from where they would cross over to Yemen through the Gulf of Aden and join an established Islamic State (ISIS)/Daesh cell.

ATPU detectives said the funding was concealed in the form of cryptocurrency that was transacted through several countries, a bulk of it via the neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, by an alleged active terror cell.

Detectives began trailing him when a group of 10 recruits was intercepted earlier this year as they tried to cross over to Puntland, Somalia, with their final destination said to be Yemen, where they were to join established ISIS cells.

The lawyer, alongside eight of his co-suspects, will be arraigned in court on Monday to face charges related to terror financing, membership in a terror organisation, and participation in a criminal network.

The suspects are currently being held at ATPU facilities in Nairobi ahead of their arraignment in court, where detectives will be seeking more time to hold them to allow further examination of evidence gathered, including digital devices, financial records, and communication logs.

According to the police, the group was radicalised online and has since provided crucial leads that could unravel a wider network and their local contacts.

Detectives believe the lawyer has been aiding terror networks in the region, who are suspected to have been using him as cover for their financial transactions and activities.

“Over time, he is believed to have moved from professional legal representation into active participation in the facilitation network," one detective said.

ATPU believes they have adequate evidence to charge him in court after probing him for months, tracing his activities within and across the borders, which led to them obtaining key trails of the flow of money between him and suspected terror networks, a claim that his legal team denies.

Some of the evidence includes a series of digital transactions routed through cryptocurrencies, bank transfers, cross-border travel manifests, and hotel booking records.

Several Kenyans have in the past been lured to join foreign fighters in al-Shabaab, several of whom were arrested on their way to Somalia.

Others have also attempted to join ISIS in the group’s strongholds abroad.

In May 2016, Mohammed Abdi Ali, the leader of an ISIS cell of medics, was arrested for planning a massive terror attack in the country using fatal anthrax bacteria. He was found guilty by a Nairobi court last year.

In August of that same year, two of his co-suspects were also arrested for being part of the cell that was attempting to launch an anthrax attack in the country.

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The following year, in October, South Sudanese security agents arrested three Kenyans and a Somali refugee, all male, for allegedly attempting to join ISIS in Libya, an incident that was followed by the escape of three Kenyan girls from ISIS in Libya.

The three, Firthoza Ali Ahmed, Aisha Mafudh Ashur, and Tawfiqa Dahir Adan, were rescued in the streets of Cairo, Egypt, trying to find their way to the Kenyan Embassy in Egypt, after escaping their captors in Benghazi, Libya.

In March 2018, detectives confirmed that Kenyan terror suspect Mohamed Shukri Abdiwahid Yerrow fled the country and joined ISIS in Yemen.