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A prominent Kenyan al-Shabaab commander is suspected to be
running multimillion-shilling businesses in Nairobi from his hideout in
Somalia to finance the terrorist group, the Nation can reveal.
Security
sources say Ahmed Iman Ali, also known as Abu Zinira – the fugitive who
graduated with an Engineering degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of
Agriculture and Technology before joining al-Shabaab – has been
operating the businesses through proxies.
The
businesses include boutiques, go-downs, and makeshift stalls dealing in
second-hand clothes and shoes, as well as a nursery school.
For
a while now, security agents have been surveilling the various
businesses situated at a shopping complex in Nairobi’s Majengo and
stalls at Gikomba market.
The businesses
attracted the attention of the agents after Musa Mutevi aka Bame, whose
activities were being monitored on suspicion he fundraises for
al-Shabaab, was spotted co-ordinating collection of money.
In a security brief seen by the Nation,
Bame is named as the leader of a group recruited by Iman to co-ordinate
secret fundraising for the suspected terrorists in Nairobi.
In
Somalia, other beneficiaries of the businesses in Nairobi include known
fugitives who are on the most-wanted list. They include Ramadhan Kioko
aka Pinji, Eric Achayo Ogada, Mohamed Tajir Ali aka Wahome, Ramadhan
Shuaib aka Giggs and Juma Ayub who is also known as Otit Were and KB.
While
the local group’s mainstay is to collect rent from Iman’s businesses,
some of its members are actively involved in selling merchandise. But
there was another hint that ostensibly stuck out like a sore thumb,
causing security agents to direct their radar at the premises.
The
group expanded its enterprise to a nearby road, on a stretch that
connects Pumwani and Gikomba market, and erected some 30 stalls which
have been rented out to second-hand clothes and shoe sellers. These
makeshift stalls have encroached on a lane of the road, effectively
curtailing motorists moving in and out of the market.
The Nation
has visited the area and established that the group has stationed
marshals to block and allow vehicular traffic in intervals on either
end.
It is estimated that from these new
structures, Iman’s gang collects at least Sh150,000 every month. The
funds are remitted to Somalia through informal money transfer systems,
mobile money transfers, and couriers.
The
security brief also opens old wounds because it says there are fears
that Pumwani Riyadha Mosque, which six years ago was linked to
al-Shabaab operations, has been penetrated afresh by Iman’s network that
has taken up positions in the committee managing the facility.
‘FINANCE ACTIVITIES’
“Although
the mosque does not support al-Shabaab activities, Sheikh Iman’s
remnants within the committee and those working as rent collectors
continue to finance al-Shabaab activities – both in Kenya and Somalia –
through intimidation,” the brief said.
The
mosque committee is thought to collect at least Sh2 million every month
from godowns, boutiques, a nursery school as well as open stalls at
Gikomba Market. This is legitimate business and there is no suggestion
it funds terrorism. In the past, the mosque has distanced itself from
any terrorist activities.
However,
security agencies say Iman’s sympathisers have marked proceeds of some
businesses in the same area to be exclusively to fund al-Shabaab. This
is estimated to be about Sh350,000 per month from a nearby shopping
complex on top of what is collected in the makeshift stalls. Opposition
from moderate Mosque committee members is usually countered by threats
of elimination.
“Iman owns and receives
funds collected from at least 10 stalls. The proceeds from the stalls
makes his stay in Somalia comfortable and partly facilitate his
propaganda video releases,” according to security reports.
The funds, it is believed, are also for recruiting, training and logistics on terror activities in Kenya and Somalia.
At
present, Iman is the head of video production at al-Shabaab’s media
department while leading the Kenyan contingent in Somalia.
His
last production on YouTube, which was pulled down by the website for
propagating violence, showed Iman dressed in military fatigues and
holding an M-16 rifle while celebrating the death of Kenyan soldiers in
Somalia, where they are fighting the al-Shabaab. He is responsible for
the preparation of media themes, most notably the propaganda videos
after the September 2013 Westgate mall attack and also Mandera killings
in which Christians were separated from muslims and slaughtered. In the
clips, which are no longer available, he suggested the attacks were to
avenge the killing of radical Muslim clerics in Kenya.
Iman
is widely known as a student of Aboud Rogo, one of the clerics killed
in Mombasa in unclear circumstances, and is born of a Meru father and
Bajuni mother. He has two wives and four siblings including a sister who
is married in Mombasa.
Until 2009, Iman
was the organising secretary of the Pumwani mosque committee but
disappeared without notice — only to surface in Somalia.
‘FUNNELED FUNDS’
The
United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea at the time said
Iman funneled funds from the mosque and the Muslim Youth Council (MYC)
to al-Shabaab.
The latest report says MYC
metamorphosed, initially to Al-Hijra and later Al-Ghuraba. MYC was first
fronted as a community-based organisation which employed professional
counsellors with the aim of rehabilitating wayward youth in Majengo
slum. This was, however, uncovered as Iman’s channel of using the human
and financial resources to advance al-Shabaab’s agenda.
The
Committee was at the time in the headed by elders who made all
decisions. But a bloody conflict broke out after they realised Iman’s
underhand dealings and raised the alarm. The old guard lost and it is
after which Iman and his group took charge.
“In
2009, MYC founder, Sheikh Iman, who is currently a senior al-Shabaab
leader in charge of media propaganda, masterminded the ouster of PRMC
(old guard) over alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds. In their
place, Iman influenced the election of already radicalised MYC members,
including himself as the organising secretary; a move that was followed
by systematic targeting of dissidents to root out any opposition. In
the meantime, Sheikh Iman was still sending recruits to fight alongside
al-Shabaab in Somalia,” the report says.
The
conflict was widely covered in the media at the time. Iman’s success,
albeit away from the public eye, earned him a senior position in
al-Shabaab’s hierarchy after he was appointed de facto leader of terror
cells and networks in Nairobi.
At this
stage, Iman was supposed to work under the tutelage of radical clerics
Aboud Rogo, Abubakar Sharif and Samir Khan, whose murders between 2012
and 2014 are still under investigation.
This
is the time MYC’s clandestine operations were made public by the police
and Iman escaped to Somalia. He was followed by many of his recruits.
Three
years later, on January 10, 2012, al-Shabaab announced a merger with
MYC and MYC was renamed Al-Hijra, a move that security agencies
interpreted as a camouflage due to “sustained scrutiny which disrupted
its activities.”
Despite the change of
name, the group continued sending recruits and funds to Somalia and
established infrastructure for future attacks. Furthermore, it
re-established Al-Ghuraba as a wing in charge of combat operations. This
is the group suspected to be behind an explosion at a rally in Uhuru
Park in the run up for the 2010 Constitution referendum in June 2010.
Before
he fled to Somalia, Iman is believed to have spread his network to
Wajir, Garissa, Mombasa and Mandera where his followers lured
unsuspecting youths into al-Shabaab.
SOURCE: NATION MEDIA
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