Police find no terrorism evidence on 43 arrested at Eastleigh colleges

0

Police have found no evidence of terrorist activities on 43 people arrested at two colleges in Eastleigh.

However, the police did charge the managers and administrators of the two institutions with running them without licenses and 17 students with being unlawfully present in Kenya.

Abdikadir mohamed Ibrahim and Edward Odinga Mulimba, director and manager of Atlas college respectively were charged with offering training without being accredited, licensed and registered by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA).

The two are further charged with mounting courses of training to wit tailoring, ICT, IGSE, English and Kiswahili without the approval of the board.

READ:police to detain 43 terror suspects from Eastleigh colleges for two days

They denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot and were granted a bond of Sh 1 million or a cash bail of Sh 300,000 each.

However, the prosecution objected to the release of the 17 students accused of being unlawfully present in Kenya and suspected to be Somali nationals on grounds that they are a flight risk.

The court heard that they entered the country illegally and do not have places of abode.

The court heard they the 1st to 10th accused persons have no documents at all permitting them to be in Kenya while the 11-17 have expired permits with no indication they have applied to regularize their stay after the visas expired.

The lawyers for the students objected to the application to detain their clients on grounds that they are not a flight risk.

They told the court that their clients have fixed abodes and guardians adding that the police themselves have been at these homes.

It was their submission that the guardians are ready and willing to present them in court whenever required or as directed by the court.

The lawyers added that the only crime their clients committed is to seek education.

The magistrate however granted them a bond of Sh 50,000 after considering the submissions by both parties.

According to Magistrate Cheruiyot there were no compelling reasons to warrant detaining them and denying them bail.

They were also directed to also provide one contact person to deposit their ID in court.

The matter for the school managers will be mentioned on 6th February 2020 while the students on 7th February for directions and fixing of hearing dates.