Interpol announced on Monday the arrest of 37 individuals suspected of terrorism across East Africa during operations conducted in November and December, in collaboration with the pan-African police organization Afripol.
Among those detained were two alleged members of ISIS in Kenya and a suspected ISIS affiliate from Mozambique in Tanzania. Additional arrests were made in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
This operation comes in response to concerns regarding a potential resurgence of ISIS following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. On January 1, a U.S. Army veteran drove a truck displaying an ISIS flag into a crowd in New Orleans, resulting in 15 fatalities.
Cyril Gout of Interpol highlighted that “East Africa’s political instability, porous borders, and socioeconomic issues create a conducive environment for terrorist activities,” underscoring the necessity of international cooperation in counter-terrorism initiatives.
