NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 25 – A man who plotted to bomb the iconic Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) building in Nairobi has been jailed 20 years.
Victor Odede Bwire was found guilty of two counts of conspiring to commit a terrorist act and the collection of information to aid a terror attack.
While handing down the sentence Milimani Magistrate Bernard Ochoi said that he had no doubt that the information collected by Odede about KICC and passed to Mohammed Yare Abdalla who the prosecution said is in Somalia and would have been the coordinator of the attack, was meant to cause harm to Kenyans.
He found him guilty of the two counts and jailed him for 10 years for the first count and 20 years for the second count but the sentences will run concurrently hence the 20-year jail term.
According to the prosecution the father of two was tasked with collecting information about the building, its security arrangements and pass it over to Yare who had warned him that what lay ahead was difficult seeking assurances from Odede that he was up to the task.
Odede also travelled from Nairobi to Moyale using a motorcycle and with luggage and a pillion passenger. The trip was meant to collect information on the number of road blocks and the kind of searched police were conducting on travelers.
He also made a similar trip in bus with the same intention. The finances for the two trips ware availed by Yare according to the prosecution.
The evidence to jail Odede was obtained after a forensic analysis of his phones by the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in collaboration with the US Federal Bureau of Investigations.
To communicate with Yare, Odede used Facebook accounts: “Kim Sam”, “Abdul Hakim”, “Kezia Soze”, “Mohamed Yare Abdala” and “Soze Kezia”.
The intel collected by Odede was to be used by Al Shabaab terrorists tasked to carry out different attacks in the country, mostly targeting Nairobi’s Central Business District.
After his trip to Moyale, two people were arrested by police in Merti, Isiolo County. The vehicle they were travelling in was found to have been strapped with an explosive and police believe it was meant to be driven and packed in KICC for the attack.
After the attack was foiled, police believe that the intelligence that has been collected by Odede was used by the five attackers who hit the DusitD2 complex on January 15, 2019.
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