A Ugandan national who falsely reported an alleged planned terrorist attack in Kenya to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has been sentenced to five years imprisonment.
In an update on Tuesday, October 15, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Moses Kabali who faced hoaxing charges under Section 26 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 30 of 2012 was also fined Ksh 5,000,000.
According to DCI, Kabali was arrested on September 3, 2024, after it was established that on June 30, 2024, he emailed the Interpol General Secretariat in France, requesting them to inform the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) of an imminent terrorist attack in Kenya.
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DCI said Kabali alleged that two individuals known to him were working with other unknown terror operatives to carry out a terror attack by use of Improvised Explosive Devices.
"The ATPU detectives launched investigations where they 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 ensued, and she was arrested in Eastleigh, Jam Street, on August 31, 2024. However, further investigations revealed that she had no links to any terrorist group and was unaware of any planned attack," DCI said in their statement.
It was then that detectives tracked down Kabali and arrested him on September 3, 2024, at the California Group of Schools in Eastleigh.
Following his arrest, DCI stated that a search of his residence was conducted and led to the seizure of two mobile phones, two laptops, and various documents.
Additionally, the investigating agency said forensic analysis at the Anti-Terrorism Forensic Laboratory showed that Kabali was the author of the email sent to Interpol as it was found to have originated from his Yahoo mail account.
"It was further established that Kabali authored and sent the malicious email to the Interpol General Secretariat in France acting out of anger to punish his wife whom they had separated," DCI stated.
