(MENAFN- Arab News) NAIROBI: Kenyan police have arrested two men who were allegedly recruited by an Iranian group accused of plotting attacks in the east African nation the police chief said Saturday.
'Two Iranians arrested by KE (Kenyan) security agencies with a plan to mount a terror attack in NBI (Nairobi). The plan was foiled and suspects arrested' the Interior Ministry announced on Twitter.
Police chief Joseph Boinett said they believed the two Kenyan men had traveled to Iran several times identifying them as Abubakar Sadiq Louw 69 and Yassin Sambai Juma. Kenyan media gave his age as 25.
'We have irrefutable evidence they were recruited into an Iranian spying ring' he told reporters in the capital Nairobi indicating that other unidentified security agencies had helped 'uproot this network.'
'The mission of that ring was to mount terror attacks in this city not only targeting Western interests but targeting our people as well.'
Louw was recruited 'a number of years ago' and had been instructed to 'recruit other Kenyans into the network' including Juma with the pair making 'a number of trips to Iran in which they met their handlers' and where they had been 'given targets and given money.'
Police gave no further details about the alleged Iranian group the men were linked to.
The announcement was made a day after Pope Francis ended a three-day visit to Kenya where security was a major concern.
In June 2013 a Kenyan court convicted two Iranian nationals of being Quds agents plotting attacks against Western targets in Kenya and they were sentenced to life in prison.
Ahmed Mohammed 50 and Sayed Mansour 51 were found guilty of possessing 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of the powerful explosive RDX which police found hidden in a hole on a golf course.