But, in spite of her using a false passport in
South Africa, she was able to slip out of the
country in February 2011. Since then the
29-year-old mother of three, dubbed the
"White Widow" by British media, has
managed to elude key intelligence agencies,
including those of South Africa, the US and
Britain.
Lewthwaite, at the time pregnant with her
second child, was given her nickname when
her husband, Germaine Lindsay, killed 26
people in a suicide bomb attack in London
in 2005.
She expressed remorse for the attack, but
now appears to have thrown in her lot with
Somali extremists. Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for her this
week in connection with a 2011 criminal
case in Kenya.
Although she was not linked directly to the
deadly Westgate attack in Nairobi,
international investigators are convinced
that Lewthwaite is the chief financier,
recruiter, coach and trainer for al-Shabab
in East Africa.
Lewthwaite travelled in and out of South
Africa, held down a R24500-a-month job,
rented a house in suburban Johannesburg
and ran up debts totalling more than
R60000.
Reports of Lewthwaite's possible link to the
Westgate attack were sparked when Kenyan
Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said a
"British woman" was involved . New reports
yesterday claimed she may have been
stationed in a "secret lair" close to the mall.
The Sunday Times has confirmed through
two independent intelligence sources that
Lewthwaite was flagged locally as a person
of interest when she landed in South Africa
on a Virgin Atlantic flight in 2010.
She was monitored at the request of two
foreign intelligence agencies and was
suspected of having links to a wanted al-
Shabab bomb-maker, Habib Ghani.
Ghani is believed to have been killed by one
of his own bombs in a remote village in
Somalia two weeks ago.
Local intelligence officers confirmed that
her arrival and movements were
documented and that she had lived with a
Cape Town family for two months and later
surfaced in Johannesburg.
"We handed the information over to the
FBI," said a source.
State Security Ministry spokesman Brian
Dube would not confirm or deny whether it
had, at the behest of foreign intelligence
agencies, monitored her, saying:
"Confirming or denying the nature of our
investigations would be self-defeating
because it will compromise the very same
work that we do."
What was seemingly not known when the
local operation on Lewthwaite started in
2010 was that the elusive Briton had
already obtained a South African identity
document and passport through a "late
registration of birth" process.
The Sunday Times has confirmed that she
signed a lease agreement with property
agency Chas Everitt in November 2009 - as
Natalie Faye Webb, an employee of a halaal
pie business then registered in Lenasia.
She lived in the three-bedroom house in a
quiet cul-de-sac in Bromhof, northern
Johannesburg, until August 2010, when the
lease expired. She left the country four
months later.
The estate agency was visited by the Hawks
last year. They wanted information on
Lewthwaite, including copies of the ID, bank
statements and pay slips she provided to
secure the property.
Chas Everitt's Randburg manager, Dave
Pride, said that although he never met
Lewthwaite, he was told by staff that she
was an "ordinary person". Her R24500
salary was paid directly into her Standard
Bank account.
"I'm told she was just like everyone else,
nothing out of the ordinary. Her bank
account and details she gave us all checked
out ... She fell behind on the rent at one
stage, but caught up and when she moved
out she didn't owe anything," he said.
The current occupants of the Bromhof
property said they were shocked to learn
the home was once occupied by the
notorious "White Widow". Other
neighbours said she was a loner and was
rarely seen outside. Two of them said they
had seen Lewthwaite with a nanny at times.
A woman who lives with her two children in
the Bromhof house that Lewthwaite
occupied said: "We were watching this
Kenya story unfold on the TV and two days
later we hear this woman, whose face is all
over, lived here. It feels surreal."
The main tenant said: "I find myself lying in
bed at night wondering if she was lying
here planning these attacks."
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said
records showed that Lewthwaite first
arrived in South Africa in 2008. She left the
country in February 2011 as Natalie Faye
Webb.
Pressed for details, home affairs deputy
director-general for immigration services
Jackie McKay said he did not have the
"clearance" to provide them .
On Thursday, Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for Lewthwaite
in connection with the 2011 criminal case.
It stems from a raid on a property in
Mombasa in December 2011 when the
police found explosives, AK47 ammunition
and Lewthwaite's fake South African
passport. She is being tried in absentia
along with another British national.
Although present when the police pounced,
Lewthwaite got away by pretending to be
South African Natalie Webb.
Meanwhile, Kenyan authorities continue to
count the cost of the deadly four-day
standoff with the militants.
By yesterday, more than 70 people were
confirmed dead and close to 200 injured.
The local Red Cross said at least 61 were
still missing.
Cape Town businessman James Thomas
was among the 18 foreigners killed. He is
scheduled to be buried on Wednesday.
There has been some international criticism
about the fact that the Kenyans requested
the Interpol red notice only in the
aftermath of the Westgate attack. It has
now also emerged that the Kenyan
government had been warned of an attack
to be launched in September and that it
had failed to act on the warning.
Lewthwaite's stay in South Africa is one of a
number of signs that point to an a l-Shabab
presence in the country:
In May 2010, the Sunday Times revealed
that local intelligence services were accused
of being slow to react to warnings that al-
Qaeda and al-Shabab operatives were
planning an attack during the World Cup;
Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state at the
time, met Minister of International
Relations Maite Nkoana-Mashabane in 2009
and warned that al-Shabab was recruiting
in South Africa. She said the minister was
also aware of this;
In 2009, intelligence sources also told of a
threat to the US embassy in Pretoria. It
allegedly originated from a public phone in
the Southgate mall in Johannesburg.
Another call was made to parliament; and
Just before the 2010 World Cup, intelligence
agencies told the Sunday Times that they
had intercepted a telephone call from
Khayelitsha in the Western Cape to known
members of al-Shabab. During the
recorded conversation, the parties
discussed an alleged plot " to blow up
American interests".
Somali expatriates in Mayfair,
Johannesburg, told the Sunday Times that
they feared the al-Shabab link to the
Kenyan attack could be damaging for their
community.
"It's not fair that there's been fear here
this week because people did bad things
elsewhere," said businessman Said
Abdullah. - Additional reporting by Sibusiso
Ngalwa and Sapa-AFP
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