A Nairobi court has convicted a Kenyan man for conspiring with Somali based terrorists to blow up Nairobi’s Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in January 2019.
Milimani senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi found Victor Odende Bwire guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack and collection of information purpose of committing a terrorist attack at KICC.
The court said that the prosecution had proved the two counts beyond a reasonable doubt.
The magistrate noted that the convict admitted he had been enrolled to collect intelligence reports on KICC’s security details, parking areas, and its environs prior to the attack by terrorist.
Bwire had opened three Facebook accounts through which he used to collect data and disseminate the same to Somalia.
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He also enlisted master Mohamed Yare Abdalla who is serving a life term sentence at Kamiti Maximum Prison over terrorism.
A forensic analysis of phones seized from Bwire showed he had sent information on KICC’s security arrangement to contacts in Somalia.
Bwire was receiving payments from Somalia-based terrorist groups.
Evidence by FBI detective Scott John is the one that gave links to the impending terror attack on government buildings including Supreme Court, KICC, and NSSF buildings in Nairobi.
Following the revelation, government security apparatus were deployed in the said buildings, and 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.