NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 8 – A Nairobi Court is today set sentence a boda-boda rider who had been remanded at Kamiti Prisons on two counts of conspiracy to blow up Nairobi’s iconic Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).
He was also convicted for collecting information in preparation to commit a terrorist act contrary to section 29 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2012.
Victor Bwire Odede alias Abdulaziz is a cousin to former terror convict Elgiva Oliacha Bwire whom security agencies believe he fled the country to join Al Shabaab in Somalia upon the completion of his sentence.
Odede was arrested while collecting data on KICC and conveyed the same to his Somalia-based handler identified as Mohamud Abdi Aden alias Mohamed Yare Abdalah via Facebook.
Mohamed Yare Abdalla is a wanted terrorist linked to the planning and facilitation of the Dusit attack on 15th January 2019 that claimed the lives of 21 people.
Odede was part of a team deployed by Somalia based militia group Al Shaabab to collect information in preparation of major attacks targeting crowded areas in Kenya including KICC, Supreme Court, and NSSF building before police thwarted their plans.
He reportedly travelled to Elwak in Mandera in November 2018 where he stayed with his handler Mohamed Yare who briefed him on plans by Al Shaabab to attack Kenya and his role to make the terror group’s mission successful.
Yare was arrested in April 2014 after he was found collecting information for Al Shaabab to conduct terror attacks in Nairobi and later acquitted by court citing technicalities in 2017.
He relocated to Somalia to continue fighting for Al Shaabab in Somalia. Yare met Elgiva Oliacha Bwire while in prison who connected him to Odede in May 2018.
Odede was reported to be a frequent visitor to Elgiva while he was serving his sentence at Naivasha Maximum Prison.
