How ‘Koran teacher’ eluded police raid in Eastleigh
A man identified as a teacher at a religious school in Eastleigh where police claim they found bomb-making material is on the run.
The man whose name was given as Abdulrahman Hassan jumped through a window and sneaked through a security cordon around the area on Saturday night.
The management of the Samad Islamic Institute on Monday said the Koran teacher was a refugee registered in Dadaab but had been staying and conducting lessons at the school.
Mr Ibrahim Aden Ibrahim, another teacher at the centre said the refugee had been scared by the police swoop and fled.
“The police had come in during the day on Saturday demanding identification documents. We showed them and they left. But they returned shortly after midnight. At the time, Abdulrahman and a guard were the only people around.
“When they knocked on the door, Abdulrahman jumped through the window and fled. We still don’t know where he is now,” he said.
On Monday, teachers at the school said police confiscated honey in containers that originally held glue – an inflammable substance.
They claimed the police also took away their laptop and cash in Kenyan and US currencies valued at Sh37,750. The police deny this charge.
The centre is situated on the ground floor of a five-storey residential flat located off the dusty Seventh Street along a water-logged alley. Shops and pharmacies occupy the front of the flat as well as stalls where women sell camel milk.
The school was started in 2008 as a centre for teaching children the Koran. It has four classrooms, each about 3 metres by six metres in size, a kitchen, and an office.
The main entrance is metallic but with glass panes. One of the windows had been broken. Inside, the rooms have carpets and the walls painted white.
On Monday, journalists found classes in session as the children recited memory verses from the Koran.
AP Spokesman Mr Masoud Mwinyi maintained that no particular community was being targeted.
“We are only looking at those who have no required documents to be in the country,” he said.