Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of a Somali diplomat said to be held in custody after police denied that he had been arrested.

The Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo on Saturday said that Mr Ilyas Yusuf Warsame, a secretary at the Somali embassy in Nairobi, was not in police custody as reported.

Somali ambassador Mohamed Ali America has in the last one week maintained that Mr Warsame was arrested on January 23 for interrogation. He alleged the Kenyan authorities have said that Mr Warsame is a Kenyan and did not have any diplomatic immunity.

To further confirm that the diplomat was in custody, Mr America said that he visited his colleague on several occasions at a police station that he did not disclose.

Security has been beefed up across the country following reports that Al-Shabaab militants were plotting some attacks in Kenya and other East African countries. Security agents have been conducting covert operations, especially in Eastleigh and Majengo, leading to some arrests but the manner of disposal of the suspects has not been made public.

A joint team made up of officers drawn from the National Intelligence Service, Anti-terrorism Police Unit and CID’s Criminal Intelligence Unit have also covertly been operating in the places identified as potential targets for the last couple of days.

On Wednesday last week, a team of 20 officers from the General Service Unit’s elite squad, the Recce were deployed at the Village Market for hours before they left. They surveyed the whole mall including the exits and entry points.

It was unclear if they were acting on a direct terror warning.

Source: Daily Nation