A Kenyan youth who managed to escape from an Al-Shabaab training camp spoke in detail, exposing the intricacies of the militant group after he earned Ksh 1,500 despite being lured with a Ksh10 million payout promise.
A report by the Daily Nation on Tuesday, March 17, detailed the process of radicalisation and recruitment by one of the militants who ended up luring the youth with Ksh 14,000 lunch allowance for him and eight others (Ksh 1,500 each).
They were also baited with an assurance that they would be offered jobs in the Somali National Army.
"It does not take much to convince a Kenyan youth to join Al-Shabaab. They look for the most desperate ones and promise them the best life. My best friend and I are some of the youth who were easily lured into the terror group," the youth disclosed.
Reportedly, the ring leader in charge of recruitment, one Ahmad Ali (Abu Zinira) runs a radicalisation wing dubbed Al-Hijra and was once the head of the militant group in Kenya.
The youth who hails from Nyeri and his friend were allegedly recruited in 2008, inside Majengo Mosque, Nairobi. His friend offered him accommodation after the two completed High School, later venturing into selling second-hand clothes.
"Life seemed normal in the beginning as we experienced the many surprises of adulthood. One of the places we would frequent most was Jamia and Majengo mosques. I'm not a Muslim, but I was used to living with them.
"One day while we were at Majengo Mosque, some people approached us and invited us to a meeting. I did not know who they were, but this did not bother me as I assumed they my were acquainted with my friend. At the end of the first meeting, we were given Ksh 14,000 as a lunch allowance as we were baited with the other golden promises," he revealed.
They were also promised to be awarded certificates to show they were Muslims after they had converted to Islam. The youth acquired a new alias, Farah, after being taught Sharia laws and other Muslim doctrines.
The nine recruits left for El Wak, Mandera, where they would reportedly meet a Pakistani man, Farouk, who was in charge of training camps.
“They would take us to some camps built in the bushes, where there were other militants calling themselves Jeish. Farouk and the rest of the commanders would sleep in tents, while the Jeish stayed up to guard the camp. Our training started by being shown a lot of propaganda videos of Al-Shabaab missions and talk about Jihad. They would show some of the militants and claim they used to be Kenyan police officers. During the day, they taught us how to use guns.
"They started by showing us how to operate a pistol. A few days into the training, I started getting scared of the whole idea because what we had been taught at the mosque had turned into something dark. This was no longer the Islam I knew of from
my friends. I spoke to my friend about it and told him this was a bad idea. But his focus was on the money. Talking him out of it was not going to work, but I had already made up my mind to run away," he recalled.
The youth managed to escape on a day he was asked to accompany a group running an errand in El Wak. He would later hitch rides to Mombasa, though he feared for his life.
"When I returned to Nairobi, I stayed in hiding. I wanted to go to a police station and report what had happened, but I was scared. I feared that the officers would see me as a terrorist and kill me. So I opted to write a letter and put it inside the suggestion box at Central Police Station. After that, I still feared for my safety in Nairobi because I felt that the recruiters would come after me to silence me.
"That was when I decided to return to Nyeri. I do not know what happened to my friend or the rest of the group. Maybe he became a suicide bomber and blew himself up. But I know and can attest that the promises they make are false. It is all a lie, but it is enough to lure Kenyan youth," he proclaimed.
