Kenya Security Forces Intercept Al Shabaab Surveillance Unit at Kabete Campus

Kenya security forces have intercepted an al Shabaab surveillance cell as its members went about surveying the hostels of Kabete Campus – a constituent of University of Nairobi. The surveillance unit was made of three operatives; Ahmed Mohamed Ali (a Yemeni national) alongside Abdi Rage and Mohamed Yusuf (both are Somali nationals). Abdi Rage and Mohamed Yusuf had earlier on conducted surveillance on Nairobi Assemblies of God church. The three were working alongside Mohamed Gamadid and Issa Sheikh.

Mohamed Gamadid and Issa Sheikh are al Shabaab operatives presently based in Eastleigh where they operate a front business named Rasmlink Communication. Rasmlink Communication operated an electronic shop and internet café which also definitely served as a communication nexus for al Shabaab. The two worked closely with an Amniyaat agent known as Abdifatah. The front business also enabled al Shabaab to raise money for local operations.

Al Shabaab has suffered a series of setbacks including drying up of their chief sources of income as well as material losses, but its intelligence arm – Amniyaat –  has managed to fortify itself, despite the almost total destruction of its intelligence network in Nairobi, by delegating a significant portion of its intelligence activities in Kenya to al Muhajiroun – al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa.