New reports show that terrorist group Al-Shabaab has redirected its radicalization efforts to Kenyan prisons where they are targeting inmates to get new recruits.
The militant group is said to be using terror suspects as recruitment agents within the prisons. The agents, who mask their real identities, first create a warm friendship with their unsuspecting targets with promises of release.
"I was offered a deal that was too good to resist given my circumstances. They offered to pay my bail if I changed my religion to Islam. They would then ensure they took care of everything from there. Mine was just to say yes, do what they want," one inmate conveyed.
The prisoner claimed that he was targeted by an agent going by the name Moha.
Describing how the Al-Shabaab agents prey on the prisoner's vulnerabilities and offer incentives, the inmate narrated: "They take time to study you. If they notice that no one has visited you for a month or so, they offer friendship".
"At this time you are very vulnerable. At first, they give you toilet paper or offer you a better meal than what is offered by the prison," he explained.
Even more shocking is the fact that prison warders, as well as the government, are allegedly aware of the recruitment cells present at Industrial Area Remand Prison, Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and Shimo La Tewa Prison.
"We started hearing the stories of recruitment as far back as when Aboud Rogo was here. But it is not easy to crack the cells. They are too secretive and if it is still going on, then several men have fallen victim," a warder at Kamiti intimated to The Standard.
While control measures, such as isolation, have been set up to curtail Al-Shabaab's efforts within the prison, working with their fellow extremists on the outside has boosted their efforts.
