Iranian nationals Sayed Mansour Mousavi and Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammad
A feud more serious than the Somali and Kenya maritime border scandal has been threatened after expose of an ambassador’s spy plot to flee two terror suspects from police custody.
Mr Westley Kiptanui Kipkemoi and Mr Shemgrant Agyei on Friday were nabbed in allegations that they defrauded Iranian ambassador Hadi Farajvand of an unknown amount of money after introducing themselves as senior Interior ministry officials who could secure the release of Iranian nationals Ahmad Abolfathi Mohammed and Sayed Mansour Mousavi who are in police custody pending a decision by the Supreme
Police sources allege the ambassador had been looking for high-level contacts in government who could help him to illegally secure the release of Mr Mohammed and Mr Mousavi and smuggle them out of Kenya.
Security sources suspect the two Iranian nationals are members of the Quds Force — an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that carries out covert foreign missions, including terror attacks.
In the saga that has been going on since 2012, the two claimed they had come to the country as tourists when they were arrested. They were, however, linked to a lethal explosive identified as RDX and were accused of planning a terror attack. A Nairobi court sentenced them to life imprisonment
The sentence was later reduced to 15-years in jail, after they appealed at the High Court. When they moved to the Court of Appeal, three judges quashed the sentence and set them free. But the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) moved to the Supreme Court to challenge their release with the judges allowing the police to hold the suspects until a decision is made on their fate.
The police believe it is this determination to secure their release that intensified efforts to find other ways to have them freed from custody and flown back to Iran.
The investigators are keen to find out Mr Kipkemoi’s role, with indications being that he had offered to work together with a senior Interior ministry official who would help secure the release.
This man, it is alleged, was Mr Agyei, a Ghanaian national.