Turkish national Harun Aydin who was part of Deputy President William Ruto’s entourage to Uganda is being held by Immigration, DCI officers at Wilson Airport.
The foreigner was detained after landing in Nairobi from Uganda.
Immigration officials said they wanted to question Aydin about his work permit, immigration status and his businesses in the region.
Officers from the anti-terror police picked him for further grilling. He was taken to the Anti Terror Nairobi offices along Ngong Road and later the Nairobi Area Police Station.
Aydin was the only non-Kenyan accompanying Ruto to Uganda for the private visit whose mission is yet to be disclosed.
Our investigations found Mr Aydin to be a terror suspect previously arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, in October 2001 with luggage containing camouflage clothing, a chemical-weapons protection suit, a ski mask and materials to produce an explosive detonator.
Read:Â Turkey Breaks Silence On Ruto Ally Harun Aydin
Also found in his luggage were CD-ROM with a training video for Islamic holy warriors, a suicide note to his wife and a last testament.
According to The New York Times, Aydin was at that time a leading member of a militant group in Cologne, Federation of Islamic Associations and Communities, led by Muhammed Metin Kaplan alias the caliph of Cologne.
In court, Aydin was charged with having planned serious acts of violence as a member of a terrorist group with an Islamic fundamentalist background.
Read Also: Terror Suspect in DP William Ruto’s Uganda Entourage Raises Red Flags
He was also accused of giving instructions for serious crimes such as murder and manslaughter in several incidences.
Before the arrest, Mr Aydin had been sentenced to four years in jail after he was found guilty of advocating the murder of a rival, Halil Ibrahim Sofu, but was later acquitted.
It was alleged that Mr Aydin’s group, Federation of Islamic Associations and Communities, had contacts with Osama bin Laden and his network, Al Qaeda, in 1996 and 1997.
Read Also:Â ODM MPs Warn Against a Ruto Presidency over Ties with Museveni’s NRM
Intelligence reports also indicated that a delegation of Kaplan supporters visited Bin Laden at an Afghan camp in 1997. Also, European-based Taliban and Bin Laden supporters visited Kaplan supporters in Germany in 1998.
The Federation of Islamic Associations and Communities was accused of having plans to overthrow Turkey’s elected government and several others in the world, and replace them with fundamentalist Islamic Rule, according to Los Angeles Times.
The DP on Thursday during a Parliamentary Group meeting with UDA members declined to comment on his association with Mr Aydin.
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