Ali Hassan Gitonga, a recent Muslim convert who is allegedly part of an al-Shabab sleeper cell, is under arrest and being questioned because police believe he was involved in the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.
Gitonga was shot by police in the right thigh and left ankle during an exchange of fire during the first day of the attack, September 21, and is in a hospital under tight security.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Grace Kaindi confirmed with Kenyan-based The Star that Gitonga is being questioned after being arrested.
Police recovered a national identity card after arresting Gitonga.
Gitonga, from Gikurumene village in Meru, trained with al-Shabab--the terrorist organization that has claimed responsibility for the attack--in Somalia in 2011, reported the Inter Press Service.
He was forced to return to Kenya amid African forces reclaiming land from al-Shabab.
In the first few days after he was arrested, Gitonga refused to answer any questions from police or record a statement.
The attack on Westgate mall started on September 21 and ended on September 24. Between 10 and 15 attackers, according to estimates, entered the mall at three separate points and began shooting people. At least 72 are dead and over 150 others are wounded from the attack.
While Gitonga has been arrested, his wife Khadija Mohammed says that the arrest is a case of mistaken identity, claiming that her husband had taken his employer’s daughters to the mall the day of the attack.
Gitonga worked as a driver for Ahmed Abdi of Hass Petroleum, she told The Star.
Gitonga called her around 4 p.m. on September 21 and told her that he was shot and could die anytime.
The girls who were with him were also injured, she said.
Mohammed said that her husband has not converted to Islam, is not a member of al-Shabab, and has never traveled to Somalia.
“He doesn’t even have a passport and has never travelled out of the country to go anywhere,” she said.
Mohammed says that Gitonga was moved from Aga Khan Hospital to the Forces Memorial Hospital.
Police are also holding two relatives of Gitonga’s--Mohammed Sayed and Nagi Jaffar--at the Gigiri police station.
Little has been revealed regarding the identities of the attackers so far.
Most of the attention has been on the possibility that Samantha Lewthwaite, or the “white widow,” was involved in the attack.
Send any possible leads to @ZackStieber
