Mastermind in Sh72m ATM heist gunned down

Wycliff Vincent Odour, the mastermind of the Sh72m Nairobi West ATM heist who was gunned down in Kayole, Nairobi. 

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have gunned down Wycliff Vincent Odour whom they say was the mastermind of the October 2019 Sh72m Nairobi West ATM heist.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said the suspect was killed after a fierce shootout ensued between a three-man gang of robbery with violence suspects and the police on Tuesday night in Kayole, Nairobi.

“Armed with pistols, the three started robbing members of the public, a scene which attracted the attention of a team of Kayole officers on patrol. The gang defied orders to surrender, engaging the officers in a fire exchange which left the said suspect down,” the DCI said.

Police are pursuing the other two suspects who escaped on a motorbike.

Authorities who were responding to a distress call from the public said they recovered a pistol and a kitchen knife from the slain suspect.

The suspect, Wycliff Odour alias 'Vinii' had been out on Sh500,000-bond following his arraignment last year.

On September 5, 2019, crooks posing as police officers stole Sh72 million on transit from G4S headquarters in Industrial Area to Standard Chartered Bank in Nairobi West.

Police said the men seemed to have prior knowledge of the movements of the cash, signifying it was an inside job.

No force was used in the incident.

They said part of the cash that was stolen as G4S employees transported it in a van while the rest was withdrawn from an ATM in Nairobi West.

Three police officers and a KDF soldier were later arrested in Kikuyu and Githurai areas, but one suspect managed to escape.

Acting on a tip-off, officers from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit proceeded to Thika town where they arrested officers Simon Karuku and his wife Caroline Njeri.