NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 25 – It has now emerged that the suspected terrorist who escaped from custody at a police station in Busia is wanted in Australia.
Sources within Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) said the suspect, Hussein Hashi Farah is wanted for planning suicide attacks on Sydney’s Holsworthy Army base sometime in August last year.
“The suspect was among other who planned to execute the bombing in an army base in Australia but he managed to escape. Others were arrested,” the source who cannot be named said.
“He is part of the Melbourne terror cell group, and has been on the run for some time now,” our source added, and revealed that “the suspect was holding an Australian passport when he was arrested.”
The suspect had been arrested as he entered Kenya through the Uganda border on March 13, but managed to escape from custody hours later, after what authorities now believe was collusion with police officers who were on duty at the time.
Three police officers were interdicted earlier this week following an investigation which police said, revealed that they had either simply allowed the suspect to escape after buying his way out, or failed to put in place proper mechanisms which could have ensured he remained locked up, after reports indicated that he had been confined separately from other inmates at the station.
At the time, a senior police officer said the suspect had been positively identified as being in the list of prohibited immigrants into Kenya and was profiled as a senior official in the Al-Shabaab high command in Somalia.
“He was holding an Australian Passport, but we are not sure if that is his real passport, or he has another one. Those are the issues we wanted to know… we had wanted to transport him to Nairobi for further interrogation,” the officer said.
On Wednesday, our source said: “We have established he is a wanted man, he has been on the run for a while now, and had tried severally to access Kenya through the borders in North Eastern and Eastern Provinces.”
“Since there has been enhanced security at those borders, he resorted to use the Busia border but even there he was detected,” the source said.
Some four other terror suspect believed to have been Farah’s accomplice were charged with planning suicide attacks on Sydney’s Holsworthy Army Base in August 2009.
They appeared in a Melbourne court where he was charged with conspiring with others in preparation for a terrorist act between February 1 and August 4 2009.
The court heard at the time that the men allegedly planned to open fire on personnel and bystanders until they themselves were either killed or arrested.
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