Police foil terror attack on Recce headquarters in Ruiru – PHOTOS
Police have recovered three AK47 rifles, 178 rounds of ammunition and nine AK47 rifle magazines at a house of a former Recce Unit officer in Githurai 45.
Ruiru Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss David Chebii said that the former General Service Unit (GSU) officer however escaped the dragnet in the 2am operation.
The officer has been identified as Constable Eric Ngethe Kanyigi who deserted duty in 2014.
The officer who joined the service in 2012, is believed to be an Al-Shabaab sympathizer and that one of his targets was the GSU Recce unit headquarters in Ruiru.
TERRORIST SYMPATHISERS
The incident comes just a fortnight after a report indicated that some officers serving in key security agencies have been radicalised and are terrorist sympathisers.
Other reports show that sensitive counter terrorism strategies are leaked to terrorists by the officers, undermining the government’s efforts and even risking the lives of other officers.
According to the report, some officers from the main security agencies — the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the National Intelligence Service (NIS), National Police Service, and Kenya Prisons Service — were terrorist sympathisers.
An officer working with the NIS, who would access classified information, was suspected to be radicalised and would share crucial information with the terrorists.
The whereabouts of the officer, who used to reside in South C in Nairobi is not known.
Even as some terror suspects in custody are facilitated to recruit in prisons, reports indicate that some warders are radicalised.
ENEMY WITHIN
Recently, a corporal at one of the correctional facilities in Nairobi was transferred after intelligence reports linked him to radicalisation within the prison.
“It poses serious challenges, especially when such rogue officers are deployed in departments that deal with information gathering, analysis, assessment, and dissemination,” said a senior government official.
Outside the security agencies, detectives also have to deal with cases of radicalised employees in key institutions.
An Isis-affiliated network including medical experts had also infiltrated some hospitals. Among the health facilities closely monitored are the Kenyatta National Hospital and Makueni County Referral Hospital in Wote Town.
