SAMANTHA LEWTHWAITE ALIAS NATHALIE WEBB, "LA VEUVE BLANCHE"

Kenya: Samantha Lewthwaite Hunted By Interpol

An arrest notice is issued for 'white widow' Samantha Lewthwaite in the wake of the Kenyan mall massacre.

  Friday 27 September 2013

 

Video: Hunt For British 'White Widow'

Interpol has issued an arrest notice for British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite at the request of Kenya.

The agency issued a Red Notice, or internationally wanted persons alert, following the massacre at a shopping mall in Nairobi.

Muslim convert Lewthwaite, 29, is wanted by Kenya on charges of being in possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a crime dating back to December 2011.

She has been dubbed the 'white widow' because she was married to 7/7 London suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

Samantha Lewthwaite may have lived in South Africa

Circulated to all 190 Interpol member countries, the Red Notice represents one of the agency's most powerful tools in tracking international fugitives.

"By requesting an Interpol Red Notice, Kenya has activated a global 'tripwire' for this fugitive," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

"Through the Interpol Red Notice, Kenyan authorities have ensured that all 190 member countries are aware of the danger posed by this woman, not just across the region but also worldwide," he added.

Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said that the arrest notice actually made "very little difference indeed" in the search for Lewthwaite.

"There is nothing to suggest that she was in the shopping complex - she might have been - but there is nothing to suggest she was," Marshall said.

Samantha Lewthwaite's fake passport

"She is wanted for fundraising and now that Kenya has made the request to Interpol it is normal form that they will issue the red notice."

There has been intense speculation linking Lewthwaite to the Nairobi shopping mall attack by Islamist militants from the al Qaida-linked al Shabab group.

The Kenya authorities have said forensic experts are working to establish if any of the attackers was female after receiving reports that a British woman was involved.

Lewthwaite is also known as 'Natalie Webb'

Lewthwaite - who uses the alias "Natalie Webb" - had previously only been wanted at national level for the  possession of a fake South African passport.

Mr Noble said her case highlighted the "invisible threat"' posed by terrorists and criminals travelling internationally using illicit passports.

"Every year hundreds of millions of individuals are boarding international transport and crossing borders without having the authenticity of their travel or identity document checked," he said.
"This dramatically compromises our ability to effectively screen and identify at airports and land crossings those individuals who could be suspected criminals and terrorists."

Earlier it was reported that Lewthwaite used her South African identity - Natalie Faye Webb - to take out bank loans and rent property in Johannesburg.

She rented at least three properties and ran up debts of £5,600, according to the eNews Channel Africa (eNCA).

Although she signed rental leases it was unclear whether she lived at any of the premises.
According to credit records released by eNCA, she was listed as living in the city's predominantly South Asian neighbourhood of Mayfair for four years.

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• (news.sky.com)
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