Col. Mugerwa displays passports captured in Al fitri, North East of Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday. One of the passports belonged to Abubarker Nur Hussein, one of Al Shabaab commanders. Photo by Risdel Kasasira                
Passports recovered from al Shabaab hideouts in Al fitri, 12kms, north of Mogadishu by the UPDF show that one of the terror group’s commanders travelled through Entebbe International Airport without being detected by airport security.
The entry into the country by Abubarker Nur Hussein in July last year exposes what could be a lack of vigilance by airport security although the Internal Affairs ministry yesterday said he could have slipped through because his name was not on the available list of wanted terror suspects. It also shows how Uganda is still vulnerable to terrorist
infiltration and likely attack despite the lessons learned from the July 11, 2010 twin attack which left 80 Ugandans dead.
The UPDF findings, made possible by the ongoing Amisom operations against al-Shabaab, comes at a time when an explosion ripped through a shopping complex on Moi Avenue in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, leaving over 30 people seriously injured in a suspected terror strike.
Kampala has been on terror alert for the last three months as Amisom continues to conduct offensive operations in the outskirts of Mogadishu, making considerable progress in the bid to rout the al Shabaab.
According to the passport seen by Daily Monitor, Hussein, a Somali national, reportedly aged 61, entered Uganda on July 30, 2011. There is no exit Ugandan visa to show Hussein left the country through any of the recognised border points.
The commanding officer of the UPDF’s Battle Group Nine, which constitutes part of the Amisom formation, Col. Stephen Mugerwa, said they recovered two other passports from the same hideout of Hawa Ahmed Hussein who had also travelled to Djibouti and Abubaker Nasser who visited Mozambique many times.
“The passport has no exit stamp, indicating he sneaked out of the country,” he told Ugandan reporters at his new captured base in Al fitri.
Although Nur Hussein claims to have been born on January 1, 1951 he looks younger than 61 on his passport picture.
Internal Affairs State Minister James Baba yesterday said Hussein could have entered the country at a time when his name was not on the wanted terror suspects list.
“We cooperate with Interpol and other international security organisations. If he was on a wanted-list, we would have caught him,” Mr Baba said, adding that Hussein’s movement clearly indicates his criminal nature.
Police Counter Terrorism director John Ndugutse also described the new findings as “very disturbing”.
“I, however, do not have details of these findings. It would be very unprofessional of me to comment further,” Mr Ndugutse added, referring this newspaper to the Immigration department at Entebbe Airport.
Efforts to get comment from Entebbe Airport were very frustrating.
A female employee at the department who answered our call, directed us to a gentleman she identified as Okello, whom she said was the in-charge. She, however, refused to give Mr Okello’s first name even after being informed that the matter in question involved national security.
A more helpful Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson, Mr Ignie Igundura, directed us to two senior immigration officials. Both did not pick their phones.