Mother’s shock after Class 8 boy joins Al-Shabaab

Sunday October 11, 2015

A file photo taken on February 13, 2012 shows Somali Al-Shabaab fighters.

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A Standard Eight pupil is being held by anti-terrorism police in Nairobi after he was rescued from an Al-Shabaab cell that is recruiting students, highlighting a development that has shocked the security system.

The 14-year-old is registered to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination next month but, unknown to his family and teachers, the boy was recruited by Al-Shabaab agents operating in one of Nairobi’s most expensive suburbs where he was offered radical religious teachings and training on how to use guns.

The militants planned to sneak the boy, who is from a Christian family, into Somalia this December to join fighting units of the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group.

He was an easy prey because the Shabaab cell set up camp in a house next to his home at a gated community in the upmarket estate, where the lowest monthly rent is Sh75,000.

Every day after school and during the weekends, he joined a group of about 20 other teenagers in the house where they were radicalised.

According to the boy, he was handed a pistol and showed how to use it, only that the lessons never involved firing live ammunition lest the gunshots stirred up the quiet neighbourhood.

Much to the astonishment of his mother, and officers who interrogated him, the boy gave a list of 19 other youngsters who are waiting to be smuggled into Somalia in December.

COMPENSATION

According to his statement, each one of them was promised $10 million (Sh1 billion) to help their families become rich as compensation for “work” they were expected to do in Somalia.

The boy also revealed that he was supposed to travel to Somalia in August, when another group of 20 left, but was left behind because he had not mastered all the teachings.

He was also waiting to be given a new name after dropping his Christian one.

The enhanced recruitment among young pupils in primary school means the Shabaab are taking up a practice which the Boko Haram group has mastered in Nigeria.

After realising that men in their 20s were easy prey for the police and army there, the group turned to using boys and girls as young as 10 and 11 for suicide bombing missions.

The pupil, whom we cannot name because he is a minor, was not always the boy he has turned out to be. Until three months ago, he was a respectful boy, a darling of his mother and the ideal son any parent would wish to have.

“He always arrived home from school in time and has never had problems with his teachers. He emerged top of his class on several occasions and had never failed me,” his mother told the Sunday Nation.

SIGNS OF RADICALISATION

All that changed from September and, by sheer luck, the mother on Wednesday realised the mess into which her son had fallen.

“He had started arriving home from school late and when I asked him, he ignored me casually. One day I took a belt and spanked him because I was upset.

To my astonishment, he stood up and said: Mum sikiza vizuri, usinipige hivyo tena na kama unataka kunichapa lazima unichape vizuri (Mum listen carefully, don’t spank me like that again and if you have to, make sure you beat me thoroughly),” his mother said.

Normally, her son would be dropped at the gate by the school bus by 4.30 pm, but he gradually began arriving home at least an hour late.

On one occasion he returned from school after 7 pm, driving his mother to the wall.

“I confronted him and that is when he threatened to leave home. I told him to go on condition he left everything I had bought him in the house, including the clothes he was wearing,” the mother added.

On Tuesday, the boy arrived home at 5.15 pm without his school sweater and books.

“When I confronted him, he said he had left them at school. I asked how he would do his homework without books. He said he would get them later. I turned him back. That night, he never returned home,” the tearful mother narrated.

CONFESSION TIME

She travelled to school the following morning and found her son in class.

The mother literally dragged him out of class and decided the issue of discipline was beyond her and the teachers.

She forced him into her car and the next stop was the Children’s Desk at Kilimani police station.

“He was very rude to a female police officer who received us but she knew what to do with the boy because, within a few minutes, he was crying and what he said next shocked all of us,” the mother said.

She quoted him as having said: “Nimewacha, sitarudi kwa hiyo dini tena (That is it, I will not go back to that faith again).”

Upon further interrogation, the officers at Kilimani realised they were dealing with a case of radicalisation and called their colleagues from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

He was locked up at ATPU headquarters in Community Area on Thursday night.

Police have now turned the focus of the investigation to the house where they believe radicalisation has been going on for months.

A neighbour who has lived there for a long time told the Sunday Nation matters changed after the house was sold to a new owner.

“Shortly after, I realised it was full of young children. With time I noticed they were very secretive and seemed to be planning something. The girls are always covered head to toe and boys always carried the Koran. There was a man who I estimate to be aged about 50 or 60 who visits but does not stay for long. I have seen him on four occasions,” he said.

He added: “Then there are three women who are regulars and a maid who looks after them. But there are also three young men who stay in the servants’ quarters. Those have an accent unlike the younger ones. While the youngsters are friendly, these three, who I regularly meet on the staircase, ignore me every time I say hello.”

USUAL TRANSPORT

The group has a van at their disposal, which drops them in the schools they attend because they do not use the usual transport provided by individual institutions.

One of the things which stirred the suspicions of the boy’s mother was when she discovered that her son had stopped using the school bus and instead was riding in the one used by the group.

Since the discovery, the mother went through her son’s books and found drawings of guns and writings she described as “radical literature”.

The mother also discovered he had a Facebook account, and an e-mail one, even though he does not own a computer or cell phone, and frequently communicated with people in Saudi Arabia and Syria.

According to her, the boy habitually sneaked into the house-help’s room at night to use her mobile phone to access the Internet.

In some of the conversations, the boy was sent photos and videos of AK-47 rifles plus radical teachings.

Kilimani police division commander Peter Kattam confirmed the incident was reported at the station.

He said: “This problem is real. Youths are targeted for radicalisation and no parent should deny it. I ask parents to regularly monitor their children with the aim of noting unusual behaviour, including the literature they read, the movies they watch, what they engage in on social media and seek assistance from relevant authorities, including security agencies.”

LOCAL SCHOOLS

Mr Kattam added: “The boy disclosed very vital information. We thank his parent who acted and informed us in good time.”

According to the boy, others who live at the house are enrolled in schools in the neighbourhood.

Police are looking into the possibility that the youngsters are not attending schools as learners but as agents meant to trap their agemates.

The Sunday Nation learnt that police raided one of the suspect houses and arrested three individuals on Friday evening.

The rescued boy is seen as having been an easy target because he had just transferred from an upcountry school to attend his current school where he is registered to sit the KCPE examination.

He was introduced to the group by a Standard Seven pupil who attends his school.

In August, a confidential government report seen by the Sunday Nation showed that a number of schools across the country were on the security radar because a number of their students had dropped out to join Al-Shabaab.

The boys have been leaving school to become fighters while the girls get married to the terrorists.

In one case, a female teacher recruited her students and later joined them in Somalia.

The report says: “Terror groups, particularly Al-Shabaab in Kenya, have through the years used various media targeting the youth and calling upon them to travel to Somalia. Recently, ISIS has also become an attractive extremist group that is pulling vulnerable Kenyan youths to join them.”

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