NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 7- A Turkish national who was part of Deputy President William Ruto’s aborted trip to Uganda last weekend has been arrested.
The man identified as Harun Aydin was arrested by immigration and police officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU).
He was arrested after landing from Uganda, where he has been since August 2 and whisked away to Nairobi Area police station.
According to officials who spoke to Shahidi News, police want to question him over his immigration status, work permit and the business he is involved in the region.
“We just want to clarify this and a few other things with him,” a security officer aware of the said issues told Shahidi News.
It is however not clear whether he is suspected of committing any crime and why he was being questioned by ATPU officers, who often deal with terror suspects.
The man now in a middle of a controversy pitting Kenya’s second in power runs a company known as Unit 2HA Investment Energy Africa Ltd.
He was issued with a work permit by the Department of Immigration Services in Kenya on June 30, 2021.
The permit is set to lapse on June 29, 2023.
Aydin was among those who were held at Wilson on August 2 as they prepared to leave for Kampala.
The rest in the group flew but Ruto was denied the clearance on claims he needed to be cleared by authorities.
Ruto was to be accompanied by Aydin as well as Eric Ruto, David Langat, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, Benjamin Tayari and Elijah Rono, among others.
According to the Deputy President, Aydin is a respected Businessman who has a permit to operate in Kenya and even the Turkish embassy has confirmed the same.
“The investor had come to my office and asked me to link them with Equity Bank. I took my phone and called Equity and told them there is one of us from East Africa, you have a branch in Uganda, help him if you can,” Ruto said in an interview on Inooro FM.
“When the guy succeeded, he went and built the factory. Where is the problem?”
MP Sudi said the move to arrest the Turkish national was meant to provoke the Deputy President who “he remained silent, after he was blocked at the airport.”
The legislator said he wanted to be arrested as well, if at all the Turkish national is linked to terrorism.
“I had made it clear that if indeed Aydin is a terrorist, then I should be the first one to be arrested,” he said in a Facebook post.
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