Turkish nationals to spend fortnight in police custody

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As two Turkish nationals walked out of the magistrate’s court, under escort, in Mombasa on Wednesday afternoon, their faces looked grim.

They were probably wondering how life would be at the Anti-Terror Police Unit’s cells at the Coast regional police headquarters for the next 14 days.

Mombasa senior resident magistrate David Odhiambo had sealed their fate for the fortnight.

After all, he said, matters involving national security, as the state had argued, ought to be taken seriously, especially when presented by a specialised unit of an agency mandated to handle terror activities.

And so, while Gokmen Sandikci and Osman Elsek would be contained at the cells at the regional police headquarters, Hassan Sugal, the investigating officer attached to the ATPU, would be perusing through their financial records trying to find the link between them and terror activities in the country.

Sugal, acting on behalf of the state, told the court he had been investigating the two over terror financing after receiving credible intelligence over the same.

He said Elsek and Sandikci were booked under OB 02/13/01/2026 at around 1.37 am after their arrest in Mtwapa.

“I hereby allow the application dated January 13, 2026 in the following terms. The respondents shall be held at the ATPU offices Mombasa for 14 days from the day of arrest, they shall be accorded medical attention as and when required, and they shall be allowed access to or by their counsels for the time they will be in custody,” Odhiambo ruled.

The matter will be mentioned on January 27 for further direction.

However, the Turkish nationals’ lawyers, including George Khaminwa and Cliff Ombeta, dismissed the terror financing aspect, arguing it was a trumped up accusation meant to get at the two after they were involved in a traffic altercation with powerful figures, including two governors and MP, along the Malindi-Mombasa highway on Monday around 9.30pm at Majengo Kanami in Kilifi county.

Sandikci and Elsek came to Kenya eight and 20 years ago respectively and have since called Kenya their second home.

The two have investments in the country estimated to be worth over Sh6 billion across various industries including construction, production, mortgage banking, real estate, hospitality, quarry, transport, among others.

Elsek, who has been in Kenya since 2008, after falling out with the then Turkish president, is officially a refugee in the country, a status granted to him by the Kenyan government.

He told the court in a replying affidavit that he was driving his Toyota Land Cruiser V8 from Vipingo to Kikambala, where he stays, when suddenly a vehicle came from behind and overtook him at high speed.

“It hit my motor vehicle on the side while overtaking. The overtaking motor vehicle drove off from the scene of accident without stopping,” Elsek said.

Three other vehicles overtook him at high speed, following the car that had hit him.

“I gave chase and caused the motor vehicle that hit me to stop. I needed an explanation why they drove recklessly and dangerously, hit my car and fled the scene. Two persons alighted from the motor vehicle. An altercation ensued. They attempted to beat me with their guns, I got assaulted and injured in the process,” Elsek said in his replying affidavit.

“I subsequently learnt that one of the persons who were in the hit and run vehicle was the current governor of Wajir county and that the four vehicles were part of the governor’s convoy,” he said in the affidavit.

“The said governor of Wajir has threatened me with deportation from Kenya,”

He said he decided to report the traffic accident but was arrested before he could make the report, and was booked at the Nyali police station.

Elsek told the court he is not aware of the ATPU claims of terror financing.

“I believe the terror allegation is an afterthought, politically instigated, wild and malicious, manufactured and aimed at coming up unlawful and unconstitutional detention and trumped up charges against me and Sandikci, who was merely a lawful and authorised passenger in my motor vehicle,” the Turkish national said.

Khaminwa told the court there is no evidence that the state has against Elsek and Sandikci to warrant their arrest and detention.

He noted that it is illogical to arrest someone without evidence.

“You arrest an individual when you have evidence, not when you have nothing and want the court to grant you days to look for the evidence,” Khaminwa argued.

He said it is common practice among authorities in Kenya that when someone becomes unpopular in certain circles in the country, they use the terror charges to harass them.

“Why has it taken the government 20 years to find out he (Elsek) is financing terrorism?” Khaminwa questioned.

Ombeta said Elsek and Sandikci are not in any authoritative lists of terror suspects anywhere in the world, including in the US.

He said the accusation of financing terrorism is a way to get at Elsek and his friend.

He said all started from the traffic incident on January 12, where Elsek was bold enough to confront a state officer driving recklessly and this angered people in high places.

He questioned why the traffic offence was handled by police at Nyali police station, whose jurisdiction was not where the accident occurred.

“There is no complainant in the OB. The OB also does not mention the other vehicle because mentioning it would reveal the identity of the state officer, who is known. An accident involving two vehicles and then only one is recorded in the OB? That is suspect,” Ombeta argued.

However, the state argued that the traffic accident and the terror financing matters are two different things being handled by two different entities, differently.

Khaminwa tried to convince the court to release the two Turkish nationals on ground of ill health, saying Elsek is over 60 years old and considered by law as an elderly person.

“Should anything happen to him while in custody, blame will be apportion on me, Ombeta, this court and you, your honour,” he said.

Mombasa senior resident magistrate Odhiambo said terror financing is contrary to Section 5 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

“More importantly, the investigation officer stated that prior to the arrest, they had received credible intelligence that they were involved in terror financing,” Odhiambo said at the Mombasa Law Court.

“At this point, it is not possible to tell what kind of evidence the state has against the respondents. Any kind of investigation carried out will therefore require any suspect to be put in some control so that the investigations are not compromised,” Odhiambo said in his four-page ruling.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

There have been cases where foreign nationals have been involved in altercations with Kenyans. In November 2025, a Chinese national was captured on video repeatedly hitting a Kenyan factory worker with an iron sheet at TCM Roofing Mabati Suppliers in Eldoret. After hue and cry, the company later terminated the foreign national's contract and he was deported.