NAIROBI, May 14: Kenyan police said on Saturday that they were investigating 69 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Mombasa for possible links to terrorism, drugs and human trafficking. The suspects, who were seized in a Friday night operation, were living in two houses in a plush area, heavily guarded by private security.

“We have confirmed that they are all Bangladesh nationals and there is no Pakistani as earlier thought,” local deputy police chief John Mbijjiwe said.

“We are now pursuing three lines in our investigations: whether they are linked to terrorism activities, drugs or human trafficking,” he said.

Mr Mbijjiwe refused to disclose where the men were detained, but witnesses said they were in the city’s port police station.

Officials said most of the seized passports — some with Ethiopian immigration seals — appeared fake, but would still be screened by immigration experts to ascertain their veracity.

Mr Mbijjiwe said officers found mattresses but no beds and a few bags of rice in the houses where the men were staying in Mombasa’s upmarket estate of Nyali. They also found two computers and pornographic magazines and copies of air tickets.

Officials said initial investigations had been hampered because the men could not communicate in English, but were waiting for official translators.

“None of them could speak English. We were communicating using sign language,” Mr Mbijjiwe explained.

A Kenyan caretaker of the houses, Ali Masudi, was also arrested, he said.

On Friday, Mr Masudi told police that the Bangladeshis were crew members of two vessels, sailing from Turkey, which were to dock and pick them at Mombasa harbour on May 25 and 27, but they did not have seafarer’s certificates.

Mr Mbijjiwe refused to comment on the claim.—AFP