Mwamnuadzi was holding a meeting with the nine youths when police raided his home and arrested them/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 – Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) Chairman Omar Mwamnuadzi was on Wednesday arrested together with nine other members of the group in his Kombani home in Kwale County.
According to police, Mwamnuadzi was holding a meeting with the nine youths when police raided his home and arrested them.
Kwale County Commissioner Evans Achoki confirmed the arrests saying detectives were scrutinising the group’s activities.
“We are holding him for further questioning about the group’s activities. Information indicates that some of the youths who were gathered at his home were not local residents,” he stated.
The arrests come as police continue to investigate the group over various attacks within the coastal region.
Police have linked MRC to Al Shabaab militants based in Somalia but their leaders have denied the allegations.
The group has strongly denied claims by the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo that it has established links with the Al Shabaab.
Kimaiyo has in the past claimed that MRC was working closely with the Somali Islamist group.
Mombasa Republican Council Secretary-General Randu Nzai Ruwa has since threatened to sue Kimaiyo, saying the claims were part of a wider ploy by the State to assassinate the group’s top officials.
In a letter addressed to Kimaiyo, the MRC demanded an apology within 30 days failure to which they threatened to seek legal redress.
The group has been linked to attacks in Lamu County that claimed over 100 lives.
Lamu County is still on a 6pm to 6am curfew following insecurity there.
The dusk-to-dawn curfew will remain in force until October 23, according to Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo.
Previously, Lamu had been hit by a series of attacks since mid-June which had fuelled divisions in the coastal region blamed on radicalisation, ethnic tensions and land disputes.
A recent report by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority indicates the attackers in Lamu County were guided through the terrains of the county by locals.
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