Al Shabaab suspect sister arrested for colluding with Nairobi lawyer

Police have arrested a woman accused of allegedly impersonating and colluding with a Nairobi advocate, Chacha Mwita to falsely represent her sister in a Mombasa court.

Abdia Adan Ali appeared in court covered up in a Niqab trying to pass herself as her sister Halima Adan Ali who was to appear in court for the final hearing in a terror related case.

Halima, who is a suspected Al-Shabaab recruiter, facilitator and financier, was first arrested in Mombasa on April 3, 2015 for allegedly facilitating three Kenyan women, to travel to Somalia and join the Al-Shabaab terror group.

The three; Khadijah Abubakar Ahmed, Mariam Said and Umukheir a Tanzanian national were arrested in Elwak en-route to Somalia by Anti-Terror Police. The three women were members of “GHURABA” a Social Media group that was used to recruit, radicalise and facilitate persons to travel to Somalia to join the terror group.

Halima was then charged with recruitment and facilitation of individuals to join Al-Shabaab and being a member of Al-Shabaab and incarcerated at Shimo La Tewa.

She eventually managed to secure bail and was released on April 23, 2017.

After her release, she reportedly continued with facilitation and recruitment for the Al Shabaab and Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In April 9, 2018 Halima was captured in Garissa by Anti-Terror Police while trying to escape to Somalia. She had been attending her court sessions in the ongoing case against her and this was to be the final hearing.

While still out on bail, she continued aiding recruits to travel to Syria and was put on the police arrest list once again.

On learning that the police were looking for her, she went into hiding and advised not to appear for the court hearing and send her sister Abdia to impersonate her.