A Ugandan man who duped Interpol over a possible terror attack after a disagreement with his wife has been jailed for five years.
He was arrested in September 2024 and faced charges under Section 26 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 30 of 2012.
The Kahawa Chief Magistrate’s court also gave the option of paying a fine of Sh5 million.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), he wrote to the Interpol Secretariat asking them to inform Kenyan authorities of a planned terror attack.
The Ugandan claimed to know the two persons who were planning the attack, the detectives said.
However, a probe by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) led to the detention of two ladies mentioned in the Ugandan’s email but it was established that there was no link to any terror group.
“Before arraignment, it was established that on June 30, 2024, he emailed the Interpol General Secretariat in France, requesting them to inform Kenyan security agencies, specifically the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU), of an imminent terrorist attack by a known terrorist group. He further alleged that two individuals known to him working with other unknown terror operatives were planning to carry out an imminent terror attack in Kenya by use of Improvised Explosive Devices," DCI said.
“The ATPU detectives launched investigations where they arrested a female suspect whose phone number was mentioned in his report. Upon questioning, she disclosed that the said phone number had been registered using her ID card but was being used by her cousin. A manhunt for the said cousin ensued, and she was arrested in Eastleigh. However, further investigations revealed that she had no links to any terrorist group and was unaware of any planned attack,” the DCI said.
The detectives said they would a few days later arrest the Ugandan in the same area, where a search at his house led to recovery of two mobile phones, a laptop and various documents.
Forensic analysis at the Anti-Terrorism Forensic Laboratory revealed that he was the author of the said email as the same was found to have originated from his yahoo mail account.
The sleuths further established that he authored and sent the malicious email to the Interpol General Secretariat in France acting out of anger to punish his wife whom they had separated.