Local Al-Shabaab terrorists are leading a vicious extortion ring for the Somali-based terror organisation within Kenyan borders, a security report seen by the Sunday Nation indicates.
The Kenyans were recruited by the group and trained in Somalia before being deployed in the northern counties of Wajir, Mandera and Garissa to lead in the extortion of locals through which they fund Al-Shabaab activities across the border in Somalia.
The report reveals how the terror organisation, which has lost considerable territory in Somalia, is finding new ways to make vast sums of money, something that could boost its capacity to carry out more terror attacks.
The terror group’s activities appear to have intensified in Kenya’s coastal and northeastern regions, where it has deployed local recruits to collect millions of shillings through extortion, illegal taxation and even robbery.
According to the report, the changing tactic is fuelled by the financial mess in Somalia, following the widening gap between Al-Shabaab’s de facto leader Ahmed Diriye, aka Abu Ubeyda, and the head of finance Mahad Karate.
Source: Daily Nation