A Nairobi court has found guilty a man who conspired with terrorists to blow up the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi in 2019.
Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi, sitting at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, found Victor Odende Bwire guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack and collection of information for the purpose of committing a terrorist attack at KICC.
According to the charge details, on January 23, 2019, in Umoja Estate, Nairobi, Mr Odende consolidated information on KICC’s security and relayed the same to terrorism accomplices through his social media accounts. He was arrested on April 9, 2019.
The magistrate found that the prosecution had proved the two counts beyond a reasonable doubt.
While convicting Bwire, magistrate Ochoi noted that he admitted that he had been enrolled to collect intelligence reports on KICC’s security details, parking areas, and its environs ahead of a planned terrorist attack.
The Prosecution proved that Bwire opened three Facebook accounts which he used to collect data and disseminate the same to Somalia and also to the enlisting master Mohamed Yare Abdalla who is serving a life term sentence at Kamiti Maximum Prison over terrorism.
Forensic analysis of phones seized from Bwire showed he sent information on KICC’s security arrangement to contacts in Somalia.
It was revealed that Bwire had been a terror agent who was receiving payments from Somalia-based terrorist groups.
The court observed that the evidence adduced before it by an FBI detective Scott John is the one that gave links to the impending terror attack on government buildings in Nairobi.
The targeted buildings included the Supreme Court of Kenya, KICC, and National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
Following the revelation, government security apparatus were deployed in the said buildings. Undercover detectives were posted in key areas around the said target government offices to collect information and data that led to the arrest of Bwire and his co-accused Yare.
Bwire is said to have been recruited for the job by his cousin Bwire Engiva, who is serving a life term sentence at Kamiti Maximum prison for terrorism-related offences.
