By Fasalie S. Kamara
The head of the Transnational Organised Crime Unit of the Sierra Leone Police, Chief Superintendent Bockarie Lappia says seven Pakistanis arrested on the streets of Freetown on Friday following the Al Shabaab bombing of a mall in the Kenyan capital were released on bail over the weekend. He told Politico that the men were arrested as part of “a normal exercise” which he said would see the police stop and arrest anyone they were suspicious of. However, their arrests followed a warning by the Office for National Security that there existed the danger of international terrorism against the country. The Inspector General of Police, Francis Munu, also told Politico over the weekend that security would soon be beefed up throughout the country as a “preventive measure” to forestall any possible attack by Al Shabab or their affiliates. He said access would soon be restricted to public buildings. Earlier at a press conference the police boss said that “all countries with troops in Somali will be legitimate targets to the terrorist organisation - Al Shabaab”. He said the threat would either be a propaganda or real, adding that whatever the case, “we don’t want to risk national security”. He said police would henceforth be stopping and asking people “who they are, where they come from and what they are doing” if they felt they were a threat. The IG said that the police would install close circuit television cameras in strategic public places like the Youyi Building, protective security education to citizens and monitor mobile phone calls. Minister of Internal Affairs, J.B Dauda urged people “to keep eye on foreign faces”. He maintained that security apparatuses had put in place “to repel any terrorist attack”, adding that sometimes “terrorist study security situations for a long time before they strike” for which he said they would not disclose such strategies to the public. Representative of the Office of National Security said that the apprehension of the people showed how committed they were as a country in preventing a “terrorist” attack. Ishmael Tarawally assured Sierra Leonean “to go to bed with both eyes closed”. He admitted that it was “difficult to know the modus operandi of the terrorist”, adding that it was possible to recruit Sierra Leoneans “because of our difficult economic situation”. Sierra Leone has faced an Al Shabaab threat since it deployed a battalion of peacekeepers to the African Union Mission in Somalia who are based in south central part of the country. (C) Politico 01/10/13
