Nairobi — Police in Wajir and Garissa are holding six individuals suspected to be members of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants.
The developments came as Kenya heightened operations at the main border following an onslaught in Somalia on the militants.
Police said the six were apprehended separately while attempting to flee into Kenya after encountering a hostile environment in the al-Shabaab training camps.
The terror group recruits members from Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia by promising them relatively high pay, but they change their minds once they arrive at the training camps, causing them to flee into Kenya.
Tanzanian banker Yusuf, 38, was arrested in November in Liboi, Garissa County, while three of his colleagues escaped.
Other five Ethiopian nationals were apprehended at the border after escaping citing a hostile environment as the reason for their escape.
Nur Osman Chawo, Suleiman Kadu Shale, Mohamed Abdulkadir Jibich, Ridwan Haji Abdulbasir, and Anwar Jamal Hajiwadow told police they were recruited and taken to Somalia for training before being enlisted to fight in various parts of Somalia.
Police officers are now using the information obtained from the suspects to improve border patrols, particularly along the routes and areas that militants fleeing Somalia are likely to use to enter the country.
Police said they are keeping a close eye on the situation in Somalia and that more security personnel have been deployed to the border.
More than 50 youths are believed to have escaped from the terror group’s hostile training camps into the country, and a crackdown has been launched to apprehend the suspects.
A hunt for the three who escaped during Yusuf’s arrest is ongoing, as police urge the public to volunteer any information that could lead to their arrest.
Somalia government with other partners have launched an operation on the gang.
Some of them are now escaping to Kenya.