An Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) officer, Chief Inspector Vitalis Kibet, testified in court that Abshir Ahmedsadak Abdi, a Nairobi lawyer who went missing on November 1, 2026, was previously arrested on October 9, 2025. The arrest was made in connection with an alleged abduction and extortion scheme in Eastleigh. Kibet stated that Abshir was held at the ATPU's Nairobi cells and appeared before the Kahawa Law Courts on October 13, 2025.
According to Kibet, the prosecution later withdrew its application to detain Abshir for 10 days, and he was released on free bond pending investigations. Kibet alleged that Abshir and several accomplices, including a foreign national, targeted foreigners suspected of obtaining Kenyan identification documents fraudulently. The group allegedly worked with government officers to arrest the targets and then demand money from them.
Kibet's testimony revealed that the alleged scheme involved several institutions, including the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the Judiciary, the National Police Service, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He claimed that once a target was identified as having obtained Kenyan identification by fraudulent means, the police role would be limited to arresting that person, and then extorting money from them.
However, Abshir's affidavit, sworn on November 13, 2025, presented a different account of his interactions with ATPU officers. In it, he alleged that officers identified as Siad Mohamed and Abdirahman arrested him on October 9, 2025, took him to ATPU headquarters, and questioned him about his role in a criminal case at the Makadara Law Courts. Abshir claimed that the officers demanded he withdraw from the case and warned that he would be arrested again if he continued.
The case at the center of the dispute concerns Ahmed Ali Mohamed, who was charged in June 2025 with obtaining goods worth KSh 618,000 from businessman Ahmed Abdi Hassan by false pretenses. Prosecutors alleged that Ali obtained electronic goods near Garissa Lodge in Eastleigh between mid-June and mid-July 2024, promising to pay after reselling them, but later failed to pay. Abshir's lawyers have reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and accused ATPU officers of interfering with the administration of justice.
Detectives have been investigating Abshir's disappearance, with DCI Kilimani investigator Dennis Mutua telling the court that Abshir's white Toyota Premio, registration KDL 356C, was found abandoned in a drainage ditch on Muchai Drive on November 1, 2026. The Law Society of Kenya, through its president Charles Kanjama, has called for Abshir to be produced immediately and for an independent investigation into his disappearance.
Abshir's family has filed a habeas corpus application at the Milimani High Court seeking orders requiring security agencies and named senior officials to account for his whereabouts and produce him before the court, dead or alive. The matter is scheduled for further proceedings.
Key points
- The ATPU officer's testimony linked Abshir to an alleged abduction and extortion scheme in Eastleigh.
- Abshir's affidavit presented a different account of his interactions with ATPU officers.
- The Law Society of Kenya has called for an independent investigation into Abshir's disappearance.
