Multi-agency teams have joined the probe into the activities of murder suspect Hashim Dagane.
Detectives from the Anti Terror Police Unit are now among the team that is seeking to establish if Hashim could have been a terror recruit operating in Nairobi, after it emerged he had travelled to Turkey for an unknown mission.
In Turkey, he impersonated a Nairobi businessman and used his image to extort money from unsuspecting online users.
The team is also investigating how the murder suspect acquired a Kenyan identity card despite evidence he is not a Kenyan.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Affairs Committee, Police IG Douglas Kanja said Hashim recently arrived in the country from Ethiopia and fraudulently obtained Kenyan documentation.
Kanja said while Hashim claims to be a Kenyan, he does not speak Swahili, English, or any local dialect - a red flag.
“We had to get an interpreter when interrogating him. We want to know how the man acquired the Kenyan identity card,” Kanja told the committee.
Hashim used clan elders and some political leaders in Nairobi to fraudulently obtain the ID.
The suspect had posed as one from Garissa’s Ogaden clan. He claimed to be from Sankuri, of the Yahye family and that he was born on January 1, 2000, in Lago, Balambala.
Officials revealed that the suspect’s ID number belongs to someone else and his real name is Mahat.
Detectives said those involved in acquiring the document have been identified and efforts to reach them for explanation are ongoing.
The matter has opened a lid on a cartel involved in issuance of identity cards at a fee. Hashim is also the prime suspect in the murder of family members – a mother, daughter and 12-year-old niece – whose bodies were found dumped separately in Nairobi and Machakos counties.
On November 3, a public tip-off led to his arrest. Investigations revealed that Hashim has four wives, one of whom he is suspected of killing.
His motive is yet to be known, but police believe he was a terrorism recruiter. Hashim wanted to marry his latest victim, Deka Gorone. Deka’s body was found boiled in an unknown chemical and dumped at the Lang’ata cemetery in Nairobi on October 31.
The victim’s family revealed that Hashim and Deka were in love and he had twice approached the parents asking for her hand in marriage, but his proposals were rejected. Hashim was from Ethiopia while Deka comes from Wajir in Kenya.
She moved to Nairobi where she worked at a restaurant in Starehe’s Ushirika area. Her friends said she was heartbroken by her parents’ refusal as she was “deeply in love” with Hashim.
Even after the disapproval, Deka continued to see him despite her friends and family’s concerns.
She was last seen on October 21, the same day the bodies of three Eastleigh women were found separately.
Deka’s family grew worried when she did not return home and was absent from work.
When the news of the discovery of the three bodies broke out, the family thought she was among the victims and visited mortuaries to confirm the same, but in vain.
The family suspected that she was with Hashim, as they usually spent time together.
On October 24, Deka’s family reported her missing at California Police Station. This triggered Hashim, a trained police officer in Ethiopia, to throw a spanner to the saga.
The family’s anxiety was temporarily relieved when they received a voice note from Deka, saying she had left the country but did not know where she was.
“I am currently on a bus heading to a place I do not know,” she said.
Deka expressed sorrow for not being able to care for her ailing mother, apologising for not providing the financial support she needed. She claimed to be safe.
Days later, the woman’s mobile phone activities were erratic, as she would be largely offline, only coming online occasionally to send voice messages.
They did not know this was the work of Hashim, in his bid to confuse them and slow down the search.
The suspect also contacted one of his relatives in a separate recording, claiming he had been arrested and needed money.
When the relative asked about Deka’s whereabouts, he claimed she had “migrated”, suggesting she had left the country.
Deka’s mobile phone and some body parts are still missing, but her ID, Hashim’s mobile phone, and several other items were recovered.
Detectives have also established that the suspect was handling Deka’s mobile phone or sim card, which he used to call her family several times.
A forensic trail of his communication took the officers back to Lang’ata cemetery, where they combed the area, discovering a phone stashed in a bag that also contained clothes resembling those worn by Deka.
Also established is that the room where Hashim checked in with Deka was being operated as a short stay by a Kilimani-based businesswoman who subleased the unit from the apartment owner.
When the owner issued a notice of rent increment, the woman opted to vacate on November 1. This was a day after CCTV cameras captured Hashim leaving the room. The businesswoman told police she vacated the Valley Heights Apartment and her belongings had been dropped at her house in Kilimani and the rest at her business premises in Gatundu.
A search at the home led to the discovery of a handbag, which she said was not hers. The bag is believed to have been Deka’s.
The search in Gatundu yielded a blood-stained panga. Efforts to clean traces of blood were evident, but the clean-up was not thorough, suggesting it was hurried.
This comes as a second suspect, Jared Mong’are, was arrested in Eldoret and exhibits recovered, among them a blood-stained panga believed to be the murder weapon.
Mong’are handled payment
transactions relating to the clients’
stay at Valley Heights Apartment.
He was presented in court on
Friday and police allowed to detain
him 21 days.