Former banker detained in probe over terror links

A Nairobi court has authorized the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit to detain a banker as part of an inquiry into potential ties to terrorism.
ATPU was given fourteen days by Kahawa Law Court Magistrate Gideon Kiage to look into allegations against Zuena Nakhumicha Machabe of aiding and abetting terrorism. According to reports, Machabe was a prominent banker in Kenya until allegedly joining the terrorism scene in 2021.
Prior to leaving her position with tier two banks in the middle of 2021 and reportedly joining a terrorist organization linked to Daesh or the Islamic State in Puntland, Somalia, as a logistician, the mother of three worked for tier two banks.
Her alleged job was to arrange for terrorists to go from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia to Somalia and make sure they had the necessary travel documents.
According to testimony given in court, Machabe’s shady existence is connected to terrorist actions in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. She is said to live a life akin to that of “white widow” Louise Lewthwaite, a British-born woman.
On 27 July, 2023, Machabe was detained in the border town of Tuduma between Tanzania and Zambia. Police testified in court that the 34-year-old Nakuru County resident was apprehended while attempting to cross the border illegally with her 3 children.
On 1 January, 2022, Machabe uploaded a one-minute, seven-second video to her “zuena machabe” YouTube channel begging for the release of her husband Ibrahim Ramadhan.
She begs for assistance in the video to get her husband released by the ATPU while claiming to live in Nakuru now but having previously resided in Nairobi’s Kayole estate.
“The reason why I have come here is because, on 2 December, 2021, my husband Ibrahim Ramdhan was abducted by ATPU. He had gone to do his hustle at the Kariokor market and since then we have not seen him,” she says.
She claims that despite reporting his disappearance to the ATPU, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, and the Kamukunji Police Station, no assistance was provided.
She claims that she made the video because she was concerned for his safety and that his family wants him to return home safely.
Machabe continues by saying that she is certain that he was seized by ATPU because calls and text messages to his phone were not getting through.
Her husband, according to the police, had fled the county for Puntland. According to reports, Machabe planned his trips and recruited him to join the Islamic State (Daesh).
They further claim that Machabe created the video as a deterrent after being questioned about his whereabouts and her desire to follow him.
Authorities suspect that she may have been employed by Daesh to transfer funding to recruits attempting to reach Puntland.
Police also detained five suspected terrorists in July of this year who were believed to be from Tanzania and were their route to Somalia to join ISIS.
Security personnel detained Sadam Jafari Kitia, 30, and Abdirahman Shaffi Mkwatili, 25, after they became disoriented and thought they were headed for Somalia.
They were apprehended in Garissa a few days after three other suspects, Seif Abdalla Juma, Zuberi Ngare Mtondoo, and Abdul Saif Salimu, who had also lost their way to Somalia.
Security organizations assert that Machabe emerged from underground life as a result of the arrest of three Tanzanians and two brothers from Kenya who were suspected in the deaths of a chief and a police officer in Mombasa.
They think she feared being discovered when the suspects were arrested while she was traveling to Northern Somalia. Four counts of terrorism and murder have already been brought against the Bwanaadi brothers and Kassim.
They had ties to the 2019 killings of a police officer, an assistant police officer, and a chief. Ayub, Mohammed, and Kassim were accused with carrying out a terrorist act in the first count. They are accused of killing police officer Hesborn Okwemwa on 2 October, 2019, in Lamu, according to the second count.
At the same time, they were charged with killing Senior Chief Mohamed Haji Famau of the Mbwajumwali region, 45, and Assistant Chief Malik Athman Shee of the Myabogi sub-location, 43, in Haji’s office on 12 December, 2019.
The second count concerned their trip to Somalia. They allegedly underwent instruction to carry out a terrorist act.
The suspects were detained on 9 January, 2014, as they attempted to leave Kenya for Somalia, according to information presented to the court. In 2016, they attempted once more, but the cops foiled their plans. They were on their way to Uganda in 2016 to join ISIS.
AGENCIES