Tracking system led to arrest of suspects

A police tracking system and informers led to the arrest of the men suspected of involvement in the Westgate Shopping mall terror attack in which 67 people were killed, a trial court heard on Thursday. The suspects, the court heard, were arrested after their phone contacts were linked to exhibits recovered at the scene of the attack. Three police officers who trailed Mr Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, Mr Liban Omar and Mr Adan Abdikadir who are on trial alongside a fourth suspect Mr Hussein Hassan Mustafa for assisting the terrorists recounted the manhunt that ensued following the September 21 2013 attack. Corporal Gabriel Lentirangoi said Mr Ahmed was to travel to Eldoret from Nairobi on September 29 2013. The suspect’s movements were monitored through the mobile tracking system which showed he was heading to Kitale, a day after he had arrived in Eldoret. “We decided to lay an ambush a few kilometres to Kitale town to make it easy for us to arrest him…at around 4.00pm we spotted the Nissan matatu the suspect was travelling in and stopped it,” the witness said. He said they searched the vehicle after ordering passengers out and identified Mr Ahmed who used to live in Eastleigh, Nairobi and was a teacher at Islamia Ibno-Khafir Madrassa. A laptop, a mobile phone and an identity card were confiscated from the suspect before he was escorted back to Nairobi. The witness said the suspect’s contacts featured among others found to be connected with exhibits recovered at the scene of the attack after a forensic “exploitation” of his cellphone. “He was among others whose contacts were found connected with the exhibits found at the scene,” the officer said. A second suspect, Mr Liban Omar was arrested on October 7, the court heard. (READ: Fake records ‘used to give suspects IDs’) The arresting officer Corporal Ali Bakari said he got word of the suspect’s whereabouts from the ATPU boss. He said they were met with hostility at a shopping Mall in Eastleigh where they had gone to pick the suspect. “We had instructions to arrest the suspect who was inside Mandera Shopping Mall selling some goods,” he said.