Nairobi: Kenyan police said Tuesday that two British men arrested on suspicion of trying to join Somali militants will be deported.
Deputy police spokesman Charles Owino said one of the arrested British men is of Pakistani origin, while the other is of Somali origin. The two were arrested in the resort town of Lamu on Sunday.
"They came in as tourists but it was discovered that they are not tourists," Owino said.
The police chief in charge of criminal investigations in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, Ambrose Munyasia, said the two were planning to go to Somalia. Munyasia said the two were taken into custody by anti-terrorism police who transferred them to Nairobi for further questioning.
The Somali militant group al-Shabab counts hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks, including veterans of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somali-Americans have also left the United States to join al-Shabab.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 18:14