A government multi-agency team has launched investigations into how a senior Somali government official was issued with a Kenyan national identity card, birth certificate and passport in a record 24 days.

The official, who was on Friday evening arrested at the Wilson Airport, arrived in the country last month.

“The individual is suspected to have some sinister motives in the country and has been detained pending further action,” a brief from a senior officer at the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit to his seniors at Jogoo House and Mazingira House stated.

Despite the strict procedures for acquiring these crucial documents that involve vetting by different State agencies, Ali Abdullah Bile, a foreigner, is believed to have been issued with a Kenyan identity card, on April 5, just three days after he arrived in the country.

Bile’s Somali passport which was issued on August 27, 2020, indicates he arrived in Kenya on April 2 on a holiday and was granted a one-month holiday visa.

According to records, on April 14, just 12 days after he arrived in Kenya, he acquired a birth certificate. His mother’s birth certificate, which he was found in possession of, was also issued the same day.

On April 26, he was issued with a Kenyan passport (number AK1094378).

Bile, 33, arrived at the Wilson Airport on Friday May 27 at 6.48pm from Garissa airport aboard Freedom Airline Express’ Fokker F50 Limited Airline, registration number 5Y FAI.

He was intercepted by the multi-agency security team at the airport before being handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) detectives for further interrogation.

Kinoti promise

Sources said Bile was working with the Central Bank of Somalia as a financial reporting officer and is currently attached to the Somalia’s Ministry of Finance.

The probe now shifts to the institutions mandated to issue the documents, including the Directorate of Immigration Services, the National Registration Bureau, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the National Police Service and other agencies.

Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss George Kinoti, while confirming the arrest, declined to discuss the matter, only promising to get back to us once he had been furnished with more details.

“I need to get more details from my people handling the matter before I can comment,” Kinoti told People Daily by phone.

Late 1970s

But a source at Immigration said the application was made through eCitizen and the papers vetted by the relevant agencies and the passport issued on May 18.

Another official said the Immigration mainly relied on the ID and birth certificate which are issued by other government institutions. “In this case, only thorough investigations can reveal if the two documents were obtained legally. They may be fake or not,” said the source.

The well placed senior officer at the Immigration disclosed that Bile’s ID card number 39896525 must have been issued in 2020 since those acquired presently begin with digit 41.

More so, his father’s death certificate indicates it was issued in 2018 while the mother’s ID must have been issued in late 1970s.

For one to be issued with a Kenyan passport, for example, he or she must submit a duly filled application Form 19 and 2 payment invoices, original birth certificate, identity card, copy of recommenders’ identity cards, among other things.

It is not clear why the vetting team did not raise alarm over the manner in which the identity card and the birth certificate were issued.

For late application of a birth certificate, the applicant must supply his national ID card, copy of parents’ ID cards, and in some cases Class 8 or Form 4 leaving certificates.

A few years ago, a terror suspect was arrested while travelling to Nairobi with a police abstract indicating that he had lost his national Identity Card. The abstract had been issued by a senior police officer at the Garissa police station.

In October 2017, three Garissa elders were arrested on suspicion of helping criminals sneak into the country.