Questions arose after it emerged that one of the men listed as wanted by Kenya police over terror attacks in Lamu is serving a 35 year jail sentence in the USA.
The police had released the name of Maalik Alim Jone of United Kingdom as being among 36 wanted for questioning over the attacks in the coastal region.
It emerged a man with almost similar name and who comes from Maryland, USA was in 2018 jailed to 35 years for joining and fighting with the Somali terrorist group al Shabaab.
Maalik Alim Jones of Baltimore pleaded guilty in September 2018 to three charges of conspiring to provide material support to al Shabaab conspiring to receive military training from the terror group, and carrying and using an AK-47 machine gun, rocket-propelled grenades and other destructive devices, the federal prosecutors in New York said then.
A senior police officer said they were counter checking to establish if there were mistakes made in releasing the name and picture of a suspect already in custody.
Judge Paul G. Gardephe sentenced Jones in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. His sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said Jones traveled to Somalia in 2011 to train, work and fight with al Shabaab.
Read: Police Release Names, Pictures Of 35 Al-Shabaab Suspects Behind Lamu Attacks
Court documents said that he became a member of al-Shabaab’s specialized fighting force, known as Jaysh Ayman, and fought against Kenyan government soldiers, and that Jones appeared with other al Shabaab fighters in at least two videos recovered from another al-Shabaab fighter.
“U.S. citizens who travel overseas to fight with a terrorist organization — which is what Jones did — betray our country and pose a serious threat to our national security,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement.
Jones was arrested by Somali authorities on December 7, 2015, as he tried to get a boat to go to Yemen, federal prosecutors said, where he aimed to join the Islamic State terror group.
Jones’ defense attorney said in court documents that Jones, a Muslim, “has expressed his sincere remorse” for committing the crimes and “unequivocally states that he was wrong for believing that his religion provided any justification for violence.”
Prosecutors said Jones “did not merely join and swear allegiance” to al Shabaab or “engage in isolated or relatively minor acts of support.”
“Rather, over the course of more than four years, he fully committed himself to al Shabaab , traveling halfway around the world to join and train with one of its most specialized and violent units,” prosecutors said.
“By his own admission, the defendant took up arms and engaged in battle in furtherance of the organization’s murderous goals.”
The Jaysh Ayman group is responsible for killing around 40 people in a 2014 attack on a hotel bar in Mpeketoni, Somalia, an attack on a church in Mombasa that killed nine people that same year and an attack in 2015 that targeted a Kenyan military base, the Justice Department said.
Police released the names and pictures of thirty-five people believed to be part of the terrorist group, al-Shabaab that has been terrorising Lamu residents.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the 35 are connected with the placement of explosive devices, the murders of civilians and the attack on the American military base at Manda in 2020.
Members of the public have been asked to volunteer information about their whereabouts for an undisclosed financial reward.
The names are Maalim Ayman, Ramadhan Kioko, Abdullahi Banati, Andreas Martin Muller, Abu Amar, Suleiman Maktum, Yusuf Anau a Tanzanian national, Abdiweli Yassin Isse, Idris Dhul Kifir, Silla, Ibrahim Magag, HassaneTijana and Fahad a Bangladeshi national who is also a medic (Bangladesh-Medic).
Others on the wanted list are Tanzanian national Jamalo, Sheikh Nganglangalam, a messenger, Ethiopian national Janagale Huteiba, Bashir Mursal Mohamud, Abu Khatal, Maalik Alim Jone from the United Kingdom, Abu Said (a medic), Abu Anan, Mzee Mashella, Warsame Ali, Mohamed Mwanjama Salim and Abdikhadir.
The government also named Maalim Said Guyo, Zakaria Karongo, Ramadhan Kafungwa, Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir, Abdifatah Abubakar Abdi, Mohamed Abdi Aiden as part of the Alshabaab terrorists. Others are Arqawi who serves as a driver, Yunus (weapons repairer), Tanzanian national Yakub, Abdulahi Dere (Driver) and Abdinassir.
The attacks by the terrorists in the last few months have left tens of civilians and security personnel dead.
Kindiki wants the suspects to surrender to the nearest police station, chief’s centre.
“If they don’t surrender, we will look for them we will find them and we will do what we must,” Kindiki said.
Kindiki added the suspected terrorists are responsible for a number of attacks in Lamu and the Boni forest enclave.
They are accused of planting explosives on various earth roads that resulted in the killings of civilians along the Lamu-Witu-Garsen highway, the killing of civilians at Lango la Simba, Witu, Mpeketoni, and the attack on the American Military base back in January 2020 amongst other areas.
Kindiki said they will use all means available to it to apprehend and punish the perpetrators, including roping in the members of the public.
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