DPP urges court to convict two suspects indicted for Dusit D2 terror attack

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has urged the court to convict two suspects accused of facilitating the 2019 Dusit D2 terror attack.

The DPP in his final submissions said that Hussein Abdile Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali had played a crucial role in ensuring that terrorists moved from Somalia to Kenya for the heinous act.

Assistant DPP Duncan Ondimu told High Court Judge Diana Kavedza that there was evidence to show that Abdile communicated with Adamu Chege through Facebook to prepare an identification card, while Abdi was linked to sending money to the lead attacker, Salim Gichunge.

According to Ondimu, the same Chege, who was the coordinator behind the attack, was communicating with Gichunge through Facebook when it happened.

“The prosecution humbly submits that first accused instigated the commission of a terrorist attack by facilitating the falsification of a birth certificate entry number 102209686/16 and transmitted that information to the user of the Facebook account "Adamu Chege” (1000251881395791" ' a coordinator of Dusit D2 Hotel terror attack for purposes of preparation to commit a terrorist attack,” argued Ondimu.

He told court that Abdile’s involvement was further strengthened by a parcel sent to Mandera from Nairobi, as Adamu provided Gichunge with his number.

“Adamu Chege provided Simple Wes with telephone No. 07O8154070, as the person who was to collect a parcel sent by either Ku1 Man or Chuki Nuru (Facebook vanity names associated with Dusit planners and attackers). The telephone number provided was in possession of Mohamed Hussein Abdile (Accused) and belonged to him at the time of his arrest,” he said.

Ondimu argued that Abdi should be held liable for sending Gichunge money through a mobile number registered under his late brother Isaack Abdi Ali.

He said that Gichunge received Sh488,100 from the number, which was sent between November 11, 2018 and January 12, 2019, two months prior to the attack.

Further, the DPP told court that an additional Sh149, 400 was sent to Gichunge using a separate line registered under his name.

Ondimu noted that Gichunge received a total of Sh836,900 from Abdi with the last batch being sent three days before the attack.

“From his analysis done by PW 44, he was able to interlink the phone numbers registered under the name of the second accused and that registered number under his deceased brothers. PW 44 demonstrated to the court that the two numbers had a shared IME number meaning that at one point they were used on the same handset,” he said.

The third accused person, Mile Abdullahi, admitted to the charges and entered into a plea bargain with the State. He was on the dock for proving internet services to the terrorists.

The State called 45 witnesses in itscase against the trio. Ondimu told the court that investigators drawn from the Anti-Terror Police Unit combed through Facebook, some 177 SIM cards collected from Muchatha, M-Pesa transactions, calls and texts to unravel the faces, movements and communications behind the attack.

From the data, he said, they managed to link Dusit D2 attack planners and facilitators with a foiled attempt to bomb the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) in 2018.

Police Constable Titus Lang'at was the man who pieced together the evidence that led to the arrest of Abdullahi, Mohamed and Ali.

In his testimony, Lang'at told Justice Mochache that 177 SIM cards were collected from Muchatha in Kiambu County and a mobile phone from Ali Salim Gichunge aided investigators to trace the attack from Jilib, Somalia. Jilib, the court heard, is the operations base for al-Shabab. "If we can stop this menace then we need to also look at facilitators and the financiers," said Lang'at.

The court heard that one of the mobile phone numbers used to wire the money was registered in the name of Ali's dead brother, Isaack Abdi.

Lang'at testified that Gichunge had used a lost identification card to register for MPesa.

He also used the ID of Dr Eric Kinyanjui to register Kemunto's line. Kemunto was last traced to Mandera and is believed to have crossed into Somalia after the attack.

The court heard that a Facebook account was created on January 14, 2019 and the purpose was to transmit live videos by the attackers. Another account that had been created on April 4, 2018 was traced to Chege who was in Jilib. It was alleged that the same Facebook account was used to communicate the KICC plot where Victor Odede was charged with attempting to blow up the building.

Hussein, the second accused, was said to have possessed pictures of fake student IDs that aided two terrorists to escape a refugee camp for Muchatha.

The court heard that Hussein communicated through Facebook with Chege but he did not mention anything about any intended terrorist attack. Lang'at testified that the ID images were sent by Chege who had instructed Hussein on what to look for.

According to the officer, Chege also communicated through the same Facebook account with one Simple Wes who was to ferry a parcel from Mandera to Nairobi. The parcel was to be collected by one Abdulahi Ali.

According to the officer, the same mobile phone number that was printed on the parcel was the same one that was found with Mohammed.

"Was there communication between the three accused persons?" Chacha asked.

The court heard that Mahir Khaled Riziki or Gabriel Simba was the suicide bomber. The others were Osman Gedi, Adan Mohamed Noor and Siad Omar Abdi. Lang’at played a video in court showing the five eating breakfast a day before the attack. They had a loaf of bread, pancakes, apples and cups of tea.

There was a video of Osama bin Laden playing and an AK-47 rifle below the television.

On the recording, Gedi speaks partly in Kiswahili and is overwhelmed by emotions.

He weeps.  A year later, an Al-Shabaab sympathiser news channel Al-Kataib Media Foundation, posted their faces and details.

The officer said this was a way of celebrating the attackers who had been killed. According to the officer, Al-Kataib posted a similar video following the Manda Bay attack.

“They reveal faces of those who have died in an attack and blur those who have not died,” said Lang’at.

Gichunge, the court heard, was born in 1990. While revealing Riziki’s dark past, the officer said that he was part of a criminal gang associated with the Musa and Sakina mosques. According to him, Riziki hailed from Tononoka and was born in 1993. The court heard that he escaped to Tanzania then joined Al-Shabaab.

Omar was a refugee from Dagahaley camp in the Dadaab refugee complex. He was born in Somalia in 1992, while Gedi was born the same year in Mandera East. Meanwhile, Noor was an unknown person. His identity was revealed from a mobile phone retrieved from Gichunge.

The investigator said that Gichunge received a total of Sh806,900 through M-Pesa.

According to Lang’at, the last amount wired, allegedly from Ali, happened a day before the attack. It was in two tranches of Sh70,000 and Sh69,500.

Meanwhile, the court heard that Mahir travelled from Elwak to Nairobi, then Muchatha. Elwak is a town in Kenya, on the border with Somalia. Gedi, on the other hand, lived in Nairobi. His last location before going to Muchatha was traced at Mirema Drive in Roysambu.

Omar, the other attacker, was said to have travelled from Dagahaley camp on January 3, 2019 and arrived in Nairobi 10 days later. He also ended up being hosted by Gichunge in Muchatha.

Another terrorist was also said to have travelled from Dagahaley to Eastleigh before joining Gichunge.

Gichunge, Omar, Gedi and Noor also travelled together in the same car to Dusit D2 on the day of the attack.

On their end, the two urged the court to acquit them. They claimed they did not know the terrorists, nor did they intend to facilitate them. Abdile claimed he was not aware what was happening as he was allegedly lured by his Madrasa teacher where he was arrested. On his end, Abdi said he learned about the attack just like any Kenyan and the money sent was on the course of his business.

The judge will now write the judgment.