Samantha Lewthwaite (pictured) is British woman-turned-jihadist who is
wanted by Interpol on several charges related to terrorism. PHOTO | AFP
In Summary
- Independent inquiries suggest there could be more than meets the eye in the saga--from the time the purported Briton was arrested at Exim Towers to her activities in the country.
Dar es Salaam. Questions have
arisen about the real identity of a woman who was arrested in Dar es
Salaam over terror suspicions only to be released by police on October
2.
The whereabouts of the unnamed woman remain a mystery since she walked out of Central Police Station in the city.
Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Suleiman Kova, who set her free, says the woman was British and had been mistaken for Most Wanted terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite, alias the White Widow.
But what started as the simple pursuit of a human interest story on her ordeal has left more questions than answers about her identity.
Lewthwaite is British woman-turned-jihadist who is wanted by Interpol on several charges related to terrorism.
The International Police Organisation issued the red notice against her on September 23 at Kenya’s request after she was named as one of the masterminds of the deadly Westgate mall attack in Nairobi on September 21.
Some 67 people were shot dead and hundreds of others injured during the mall siege carried out by Somali-based Al-Shabaab militiamen with links to the notorious Al Qaeda terror network.
Lewthwaite was married to Germaine Lindsay, one of the four suicide bombers involved in the July 7 terror attacks in London in 2005 in which 52 people were killed.
According to Mr Kova, the woman who was mistaken for the runaway widow was released unconditionally after the police established she was a British citizen living with her husband in the city.
Kova also told The Citizen on Saturday last week that the woman’s identity and her whereabouts could not be made public because she was innocent.
He told this newspaper that an interview with her was out of the question. “No, we can’t disclose her identity because she has committed no crime,” he added. “She also doesn’t want coverage and she has the right to decide so.”
But independent inquiries suggest there could be more than meets the eye in the saga--from the time she was arrested at Exim Towers to her activities in the country.
Sources close to the police told The Citizen on Saturday that questions had arisen following claims that the woman who had been arrested had three different passports and a huge sum of US dollars in bundles.
“She was also using fake eye lenses and applied heavy make-up that gave her the appearance of a Caucasian but she turned white when everything was finally removed,” added the source, who requested anonymity.
According to the source, whose story was corroborated by staff at the bank where the suspect was arrested, the woman was unable to speak English and gave different accounts of her mission.
She wore a veil commonly referred to as Hijab. “She had come to the building a couple of times, reportedly on issues to do with a cleaning and house-keeping contract.”
“On the day of her arrest, she wanted to open an account at the bank and said she was a tenant at Uhuru Heights, the new ultra-modern apartments in the city centre.”
But the staff became suspicious when she could not speak English despite saying she was British. She also said she did not have identification documents.
Another staffer confided that police had warned colleagues against speaking to the media on the case and asked them to refer all queries to the police.
It was the Exim Bank staff who summoned the police from the neighbouring Home Affairs ministry headquarters.
The Citizen on Saturday established that a manager at Exim Tower accompanied the suspect to the Central Police Station to record a statement but efforts to get her to speak have proved futile.
She declined an interview on the same account of warnings from the police.
Asked about these claims, Mr Kova retorted; “Those are stories and I am hearing them for the first time from you.”
An official at the bank said the institution had nothing to do with the woman and their employees had reported being suspicious about her. “We don’t know her name and did not deal with her directly,” the official added.
Our inquiries led us to MAC-UTI Properties, the real estate firm that manages Exim Tower, for confirmation of the nature of dealings it had with the woman.
According to one Puraboo, a project manager MAC-UTI Properties, the woman approached them looking for an opportunity for her company to clean the building about four or five months ago but was turned down.
“We told her that the tender was not open as there was another company doing the job,” he said.
Mr Puraboo, who did not want to give his second name, added: “She did not leave with us any document about her company or her business. We don’t even know her. It is only the police and maybe the bank that can tell you what she was doing in the building, not us.”
The white widow is said to be travelling around East Africa in a bid to evade the authorities and reportedly entered Kenya through the Namanga border.
She was almost caught by Kenyan police two years ago in a series of raids in the coastal city of Mombasa. She slipped through their fingers but left tantalizing clues to her life on the run on her laptop.
The whereabouts of the unnamed woman remain a mystery since she walked out of Central Police Station in the city.
Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Suleiman Kova, who set her free, says the woman was British and had been mistaken for Most Wanted terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite, alias the White Widow.
But what started as the simple pursuit of a human interest story on her ordeal has left more questions than answers about her identity.
Lewthwaite is British woman-turned-jihadist who is wanted by Interpol on several charges related to terrorism.
The International Police Organisation issued the red notice against her on September 23 at Kenya’s request after she was named as one of the masterminds of the deadly Westgate mall attack in Nairobi on September 21.
Some 67 people were shot dead and hundreds of others injured during the mall siege carried out by Somali-based Al-Shabaab militiamen with links to the notorious Al Qaeda terror network.
Lewthwaite was married to Germaine Lindsay, one of the four suicide bombers involved in the July 7 terror attacks in London in 2005 in which 52 people were killed.
According to Mr Kova, the woman who was mistaken for the runaway widow was released unconditionally after the police established she was a British citizen living with her husband in the city.
Kova also told The Citizen on Saturday last week that the woman’s identity and her whereabouts could not be made public because she was innocent.
He told this newspaper that an interview with her was out of the question. “No, we can’t disclose her identity because she has committed no crime,” he added. “She also doesn’t want coverage and she has the right to decide so.”
But independent inquiries suggest there could be more than meets the eye in the saga--from the time she was arrested at Exim Towers to her activities in the country.
Sources close to the police told The Citizen on Saturday that questions had arisen following claims that the woman who had been arrested had three different passports and a huge sum of US dollars in bundles.
“She was also using fake eye lenses and applied heavy make-up that gave her the appearance of a Caucasian but she turned white when everything was finally removed,” added the source, who requested anonymity.
According to the source, whose story was corroborated by staff at the bank where the suspect was arrested, the woman was unable to speak English and gave different accounts of her mission.
She wore a veil commonly referred to as Hijab. “She had come to the building a couple of times, reportedly on issues to do with a cleaning and house-keeping contract.”
“On the day of her arrest, she wanted to open an account at the bank and said she was a tenant at Uhuru Heights, the new ultra-modern apartments in the city centre.”
But the staff became suspicious when she could not speak English despite saying she was British. She also said she did not have identification documents.
Another staffer confided that police had warned colleagues against speaking to the media on the case and asked them to refer all queries to the police.
It was the Exim Bank staff who summoned the police from the neighbouring Home Affairs ministry headquarters.
The Citizen on Saturday established that a manager at Exim Tower accompanied the suspect to the Central Police Station to record a statement but efforts to get her to speak have proved futile.
She declined an interview on the same account of warnings from the police.
Asked about these claims, Mr Kova retorted; “Those are stories and I am hearing them for the first time from you.”
An official at the bank said the institution had nothing to do with the woman and their employees had reported being suspicious about her. “We don’t know her name and did not deal with her directly,” the official added.
Our inquiries led us to MAC-UTI Properties, the real estate firm that manages Exim Tower, for confirmation of the nature of dealings it had with the woman.
According to one Puraboo, a project manager MAC-UTI Properties, the woman approached them looking for an opportunity for her company to clean the building about four or five months ago but was turned down.
“We told her that the tender was not open as there was another company doing the job,” he said.
Mr Puraboo, who did not want to give his second name, added: “She did not leave with us any document about her company or her business. We don’t even know her. It is only the police and maybe the bank that can tell you what she was doing in the building, not us.”
The white widow is said to be travelling around East Africa in a bid to evade the authorities and reportedly entered Kenya through the Namanga border.
She was almost caught by Kenyan police two years ago in a series of raids in the coastal city of Mombasa. She slipped through their fingers but left tantalizing clues to her life on the run on her laptop.
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