Kenyan police have been commended for their immediate action in obstructing a terror plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II and former Prime Minister David Cameron.
A court in the UK earlier this week learnt that Kenya’s intelligence services closely monitored messages sent by London delivery driver Aweys Shikey, a 38-year-old Dutch national. He had attempted to join terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a Jihadist movement in Iraq and Syria, the Daily Nation reports.
During the hearing, it emerged that Shikey was constantly communicating with fellow Somali national living in Kenya, named Abdirahman Idrissa Hassan. They were said to have shared messages which suggested that they had wanted to kill the Queen and Cameron.
Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson read out some of the messages in court, where Hassan tells Shikey as quoted by Daily Nation news: “May God bestow you in killing David Cameron and the old woman Elizabeth.”
Hassan further asked Shikey: “I want to ask you… can you buy bullets in the UK?” Shikey suggested that smuggling is the only way to get the bullets. He also indicated that it would be better if an AK-47, M16 and BKM can be found for the mission.
These messages were sent via Threema and Telegram and Kenyan authorities were able to encrypt them.
Shikey was arrested at Stansted Airport on May 23, 2017, as he was about to board a flight to Turkey. The 38-year-old was found in possession of a number of mobile phones. He had even taken a selfie at the airport to disguise himself as a tourist.
Hassan was also arrested in Kenya in September 2016 for terrorism-related offences.
Commander Dean Haydon, head of the London metropolitan counterterrorism unit, on Tuesday, praised the Kenyan authorities for their role in the arrest.
“Thanks to the information we received from the Kenyan authorities and the good work here by my detectives thereafter, we have been able to uncover his attempts and stop him from joining Daesh and committing terrorist acts over there.”
Shikhey has since been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on March 15.
