Emmanuel Mupira Kambala, a Congolese national, has been presented at Kahawa Law Courts in Kiambu County after he was arrested on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as he was leaving the country.
According to the Director of Criminal Investigations Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (DCIATPU) report, Mupira is believed to run a business of gold that funds the terrorist groups within Africa and Syria.
“The respondent is believed to be a notorious gold smuggler operating on behalf of the ISIL/ISIS terrorist groups, where he sells gold in Dubai and in return, the money channels back to Congo to facilitate terrorist activities,” part of the report reads.
According to the DCIATPU report, Mupira is believed to have been receiving huge sums of money through his dollar account that seem suspicious, money that is believed to offer logistics support to the terror groups in Congo, including funding of new recruits to the groups.
“The huge sums of amount is suspected to be used in purchase of ammunition, medication and payment of new recruiters for smooth coordination of terrorism activities within Kenya/Congo,” part of the DCIATPU report reads.
Charges
Mupira is also being investigated for several terrorism and related offences which include the provision of property and services for the commission of terrorist acts contrary to section 5 of the Prevention of Terrorist Act 2012 and attract a jail term of 20 years if found guilty.
He is also being investigated over money laundering involvement and whether he’s a member of a terrorism group contrary to section 24 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012, which leads to a jail term not exceeding 30 years if found guilty.
However, Mupira told the court that he opened a dollar account to cater to his clients who would ask to pay in dollars when they did business with him, thus explaining how the huge amounts of dollars got into his account.
He also argued that his possession of different SIM cards from different countries he operates his businesses in is to enable him to switch to different networks when he visits the countries for business and that they should not be used as a gauge of his involvement in terror activities.
In his defense, he further told the court that he is not a flight risk, as his family resides in Kenya, asking to be freed on a bond/bail, as his family and a relative who came for treatment depend on him.
“I have lived in Kenya and run a business for 15 years now, and my family resides in Kenya, and I also have a relative who came over for cancer treatment. They all depend on me. My businesses might also be affected if I continue being detained, and if that happens, getting back on my feet businesswise might be hard,” Mupira told the court.
Detained
The Director of Criminal Investigations Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (DCIATPU) had requested the court to be allowed to detain the suspect for 20 days in order to complete the investigations.
However, Senior Principal Magistrate Boaz Ombewa ruled that Mupira should be detained for 10 days and that his family be granted access to him.
Kambala was arrested following a stop order dated January 7, 2025, to the Immigration Department to intercept the respondent at any entry point to Kenya.
The case will be mentioned on January 27, 2025 at Kahawa Law Courts.
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