A Ugandan national has been sentenced to five years in jail for sending false alert that Kenya was on verge of a terror attack.
The 53-year-old Moses Kabali on June 30, 2024 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 alleged that two individuals he knew working in cahoots with unknown terrorists were planning to attack Kenya using Improvised Explosive Devices.
ATPU detectives launched investigations and arrested a female suspect whose phone number was mentioned in Kabali’s 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 led the detectives to Eastleigh on August 31, 2024 but further probe revealed that she had no links to any terrorist group and was unaware of any planned attack.
Kabali was arrested on September 3, 2024, at the California Group of Schools in Eastleigh.
A search of his residence led to the seizure of two mobile phones, two laptops, and various documents. Forensic analysis at the Anti-Terrorism Forensic Laboratory revealed he authored the said email as the same was found to have originated from his yahoo mail account.
He hoaxed the Interpol General Secretariat in France out of anger to punish his wife whom they had separated.
He faced hoaxing charges under Section 26 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 30 of 2012.
He was arraigned before Kahawa Chief Magistrate Court Gideon Kiage who ordered him to pay Sh5 million fine or serve five years in prison.
