NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 19 – Two Britons arrested at the Kenya-Somalia border on suspicion of having terrorism links have been deported.
“They have already been deported. They have left under tight security to their country,” Deputy Police Spokesman Charles Wahong’o said on telephone.
Police had said the men were arrested as they tried to cross the border into Somalia on Sunday afternoon.
The Britons were identified as residents of the Welsh capital Cardiff.
The Foreign Office in London on Tuesday said it had been informed of the arrest.
“South Wales Police are currently in liaison with the Kenyan authorities in respect of two British nationals who have been detained near to the border with Somalia,” the force said in a statement Tuesday.
“The identities of these persons have yet to be formally confirmed, both are believed to be from the Cardiff area. The families of these persons have been notified.
“We are aware of reports of two British nationals detained in Kenya on October 16. We stand by to provide consular assistance if required,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office had said Tuesday.
Police said they were still holding some 10 other people who were arrested in Dadaab on Tuesday on suspicion of having links with Al Shabaab.
“This is part of security measures we have put in place and we have arrested ten people today (Tuesday),” North Eastern Provincial Police chief Leo Nyongesa told Capital News on telephone from Garissa.
Provincial Police chief for North Eastern Province Mr Nyongesa told Capital News that security had been stepped up at the border towns even as Kenyan military forces advanced 120 kilometres further into rebel held regions of Somalia.
Using aerial cover, the military troops advanced on Tuesday on a strategic rebel-held Somali town of Afmadow to drive off the Islamist militants into their country after a series of abductions since 2009 and the latest of four European women seized from beachfronts in Lamu and Dadaab refugee camp.
Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir told Capital News that the offensive was progressing on well without casualties so far on the Kenyan side.
He said the Kenyan military had killed 73 Al Shabaab militants since the offensive started on Saturday.
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