Police in Mandera county have detained an man alleged to be a spy in Mandera.
According to them, the man was caught asking for directions to Somalia.
Backtone Agaro told anti-terrorism officers he had traveled from Nairobi aboard Garissa-bound bus before alighting in Mandera town on Wednesday, March 6, on friend’s invitation for a construction work.
In a sworn affidavit before Mandera Resident Magistrate allowed police said Agaro whose family resides in Vihiga county, was found with a notebook containing Kenyan towns he had visited before.
“The suspect came into Mandera from Garissa aboard a Tawakal company bus and immediately after alighting he inquired for directions to Somalia. He did not have a mobile phone which we suspected he hid it in order to conceal his movements from security agencies,” said investigating officer Elijah Nakeel.
When he appeared in court on Friday, March 8, the suspect denied being member of the terror group and that he was asking for a place to spend the night.
“I was asking for a place to sleep and not the direction to Somalia because we arrived in town at night and I was new here,” he told Mandera Resident Magistrate Dancun Mtai.
He was however hard pressed to explain why he was in possession of the said notebook. Agaro will be in custody for seven days pending investigations.