Kenya to deport terror convict to Britain

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya is set to deport a convicted terrorist to Britain, Daily Mail reports, with preliminary investigations showing that the accused is closely connected to the famous "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite, who is linked to several attacks.

Jermaine Grant, 40, faces removal from Kenya after serving nine years in jail for possessing bomb-making materials and forging immigration papers. He was tried and convicted of planning attacks against hotels in the country.

The decision to release him and subsequent deportation to Britain could raise questions about the safety of the European nation, which has been keen on fighting terror. It is not clear if Kenya has contacted London ahead of the execution of the plan.

Grant was prosecuted in Kenya after police found chemicals, switches, and a bomb-making manual in a flat he shared with Lewthwaite, whose husband Germaine Lindsay was one of the four suicide bombers who killed 52 people in London in 2005, Daily Mail notes.

When police swooped on the flat in 2012, Lewthwaite had fled, escaping just minutes earlier after Grant allegedly warned her with a text message, saying: ‘The lions are inside. One of them is very watchful like a bird watches a stone.’ She is still at large.

Details in possession of the security teams indicate that Grant was born in Newham, East London. According to reports, Grant had plans to unleash terror attacks on hotels frequented by tourists in Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa. Prosecutors also linked him to Al-Shabaab militants.

A team of counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard flew to Kenya to assist in his prosecution. Met Detective Inspector John Reilly told Grant’s trial in 2014: ‘We know that the chemicals found at Grant’s house were designed to make a bomb. We believe the gang was at the end of its preparations.’

Grant was convicted of possession of bomb-making materials but was acquitted in 2019 of ‘conspiracy to commit a felony’ in relation to the terror plot. Now he faces a court in Kenya on Wednesday to decide whether he should be deported.

Prosecutor Bernard Ngiri has filed an application to kick him out of the country as an ‘unwanted immigrant’ after he was released from prison on June 24. The High Court will determine his deportation and it is highly likely that the application will be granted.

Kenya is fighting terror groups mainly the Al-Shabaab who have encroached on the country from neighboring Somalia. The group has heightened attacks in the Northern Frontier Districts and Lamu, leading to the delay in reopening the Kenya-Somalia border.

GAROWE ONLINE