Kenya arrests Ugandan over hacking, terror links

The Kenyan Police have arrested a Ugandan named as Ronnie Nsale on suspicion that he attempted to hack into the electoral agency's systems and working with the Islamic State group.

Nsale was arrested last Friday together with a Kenyan national and arraigned in court on Monday and remanded for 15 days after the police asked the court to grant them more time to carry out detailed investigations.

Kenyan prosecutors alleged that the two hacked into computer systems of "vital and key installations, agencies and a telecommunication service provider".

Kenyan police claim Nsale, working together with others, hacked into the database systems of  banks, mobile phone companies and money transfer service providers and stole millions of shillings. Among the telephone companies Nsale reportedly hacked into included Kenya's leading mobile company Safaricom.

The Ugandan suspect was first charged with breaking into the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission database and remanded for three days before he was again taken back to court on Thursday and charged afresh with terrorism after detectives found evidence that linked him to the crime.

A statement released on the Safaricom website indicated that one of their customers had lost a considerable amount of money through the hacking but that "Safaricom's risk management unit detected the intrusion and immediately escalated it to security agencies".