Kenyan authorities are holding an aircraft carrying 37 Somali pirates after landing in the east African nation on Sunday.

According to the local Daily Nation newspaper on Monday, the pirates who were arrested on Sunday are said to have been released by the Seychelles government before their Kenyan contact made arrangements and paid the aircraft company to fly them through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on their way to Mogadishu.

The newspaper established that the 40-seater Dash-8 aircraft arrived at JKIA from the Seychelles on Saturday night and was immediately surrounded by police officers as high-level negotiations continued.

"The Kenyan government was said to be navigating the diplomatic minefield on the implications of allowing the pirates into the country, which is perceived by the international community to be helping in the fight against piracy and terrorism," it said.

The passengers and crew of three were not allowed to disembark. The aircraft, which belongs to a local company, was hooked onto a ground power unit for its lighting, air conditioning and toilet system so that the occupants use its facilities and not have the excuse to disembark.

The owners of the aircraft had been hired by a person in Kenya who told them that the passengers had been cleared by both the Kenyan and Seychelles governments to fly from Seychelles International Airport in Victoria City on Mahe Island.

They were scheduled to disembark from the plane and enter Nairobi from where they would have either sneaked back into Somalia or remained in the country to enjoy their ill-gotten riches.

The aircraft was, however, intercepted and the passengers detained after it was established that it had no clearance and neither had any been arranged between Kenya and Seychelles or Kenya and Somalia.

The development came after the same newspaper reported on Sunday that a group of terrorists operating from Somalia had planned three bomb attacks in Nairobi during the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month.

A senior counter-terrorism official recounted to the newspaper how the terrorists planned to stage simultaneous attacks at the Hotel Intercontinental where Clinton stayed during her visit, the Kencom Bus Stage and the adjacent Hilton Hotel.

The plan was hatched in Somalia and thwarted by Kenyan security officials who intercepted communication between the plotters and their accomplices in Nairobi.

Clinton was in Nairobi in August to officiate at trade talks between her government and African countries courtesy of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, an American law that seeks to promote trade between the U.S. and Africa.

The security official, whose identity cannot be revealed without compromising anti-terrorism operations, said the terrorists linked to the Al-Shabaab group had wanted to humiliate Kenyan and U.S. governments but their plans were thwarted before the attackers could cross the border.

"The threats were neutralized a week to the Agoa meeting in combined efforts by the military and other security agencies," the official told the Daily Nation.

"The operation in Nairobi netted five crucial suspects, one of whom carries Danish identification documents but is believed to be a Somali national. The other four, one of whom is a woman, hold Kenyan identification documents believed to be fake. Investigations into their identity and plan are on."

According to the newspaper, the official said while in the past the real target of the attacks has been Western interests, the Al Qaeda leadership has since made Kenya a new target.

"So serious is the threat that during the Agoa meeting, the Al Qaeda intended to strike at the heart of Nairobi during the rush hours," the official said.

According to the security official, the masterminds of the attack were in contact with Saleh Nabhan, one of the most wanted men by the FBI, and whose personal assistant, a man identified as Anas, is believed to have been coordinating the plan.

Source: Xinhua