Police have shot and killed the alleged mastermind of the Sh72 million Nairobi West ATM heist last year
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said Wycliff Vincent Oduor, who was an AP officer, was gunned down on Tuesday “in a fierce shootout between a 3-man gang of robbery with violence suspects and detectives responding to a distress call from the public at Kayole Junction in Nairobi”.
“Armed with pistols and riding on a motorbike, the three started robbing members of public at the said location, a scene which attracted the attention of a team of Kayole detectives on patrol. The gang defied orders to surrender, engaging the officers in a fire exchange which left the said suspect down,” DCI tweeted on Tuesday night.
Police said the other two suspects escaped on the motorbike but are being pursued.
“A pistol and a kitchen knife were recovered from the slain suspect,” police added.
Oduor aka ‘Vinii’ had been out on a Sh 500,000 Bond after his arraignment following the heist.
Oduor, an administration officer and his general duty colleague, are believed to have been part of a gang that conspired to steal the money during a routine replenishing of Standard Chartered Bank’s ATM in Nairobi West.
On September 7 last year, Special Crime Prevention Unit officers arrested two officers in Kisii town and Kendu Bay and recovered Sh7 million in the probe on the ATM heist.
DCI George Kinoti then said the first suspect, Chris Ayenda Machogu, led the detectives from Kisii town to Kendu Bay where his accomplice identified as Owuor was arrested.
Oduor and his gang reportedly posed as police officers and stole 13 bags with the Sh72 million.
The money was in transit from G4S headquarters along Witu road to the ATM.
Seven G4S guards who were with the officers escorting them claimed that they were ordered to surrender the money as soon as they arrived at the ATM at 6am.
