Major terrorist organizations, including ISIS and Al-Shabaab, which have strongholds in the some parts of the continent, have suffered significant setbacks following a large-scale INTERPOL raid that led to the arrest of 37 suspected persons linked to the organizations.
INTERPOL said the arrests carried out between November and December 2024, took place across eight East African countries as part of a joint operation with AFRIPOL.
The mission aimed to identify and apprehend individuals linked to terrorism while also reinforcing border security measures.
According to the international security agency, the operation was successful due to the active cooperation and support of the participating nations.
The agency revealed that before each operation, participating countries developed detailed operational plans, gathering intelligence on terror-related targets, including individuals and their known locations.
INTERPOL and AFRIPOL then consolidated and analyzed this information, sharing it with all participating nations. This process facilitated a significant exchange of criminal intelligence, enhancing the effectiveness of the operation.
According to Cyril Gout, INTERPOL’s Acting Executive Director of Police Services “East Africa’s complex landscape, marked by political instability, porous borders, and socioeconomic challenges, continues to provide an environment conducive to terrorist activity.”
Affected countries
In Kenya, 17 individuals were arrested, including two suspected ISIS members and several foreign terrorist fighters.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), authorities apprehended four alleged members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) along with two others. Officials also seized a missile and an anti-tank device.
In Somalia, INTERPOL arrested three individuals, including a suspected bomb maker linked to an Al-Shabaab unit. Another detainee was an Al-Shabaab operative believed to have attacked multiple police checkpoints using hand grenades.
In Tanzania, an alleged member of ISIS Mozambique was taken into custody, along with a Ugandan national attempting to join a terrorist group in Mozambique as a foreign terrorist fighter.
INTERPOL stated that the operation was conducted under the ISPA programme, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, to support AFRIPOL in strengthening its role as Africa’s lead institution in preventing and combating transnational organized crime, terrorism, and cybercrime.
