A Mandera Court has detained a suspected Al-Shabaab spy for five days to allow police to conclude their investigations.
This comes after the police filed an application to be granted more days to finish their investigations against the accused, Mahad Ahmed Adan.
The 34-year-old man was arrested on March 23, 2019 at around 10pm in the outskirts of Mandera town.
Wilson Nyaga, a police officer from the Anti-Terror Unit (ATPU), made the application to hold the suspect in police custody for ten more days.
The police noted that they received intelligence from Nairobi which led to the arrest, adding that they needed ten days to collaborate it.
Nyaga in a sworn affidavit said the National Police Reservists who were on patrol on the material date arrested the accused person at Barwaqo Primary School.
The accused was found in possession of his Somali national identity card that was issued on December 3, 2018.
He, however, denied claims of being an Al-Shabaab spy saying he came by air to Dholo town and was heading to Mandera town to visit his family.
“I arrived in Mandera at about 2pm and while I planned to report my arrival to police the following day, I was arrested at night. I am ready to be held and investigated,” he told the court as quoted by the Daily Nation.
State counsel Kennedy Amwayi told the court that at the time of his arrest, the accused was found with several Somalia documents including a renewal of short term contract, a Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation letter dated February 16, 2019, and a performance appraisal scorecard of the African Union dated January 20, 2019.
Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Dancun Mtai allowed the application by the police but directed them to hold the suspect for five days.
The case will be mentioned on April 1, 2019.