Police shoot dead mastermind of Ksh.72M Nairobi ATM heist in Kayole

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have gunned down the suspected mastermind of last year’s Ksh.72 million Nairobi ATM heist.

Wycliff Vincent Oduor is said to have been among a three-man gang armed with pistols that on Tuesday engaged police in a fierce shootout in Kayole.

The detectives on patrol were responding to a distress call from members of the public at Kayole junction where they found the gang terrorizing and robbing area residents.

They reportedly defied orders to surrender and, instead, engaged the officers in a gunfire exchange that left the said suspect dead.

Detectives said they recovered a pistol and a kitchen knife from the felled suspect, adding that the other two gang members escaped on a motorcycle but a hunt for them is underway.

Mr. Oduor was out on a Ksh.500,000 bond following his arrest and subsequent arraignment over a 2019 incident where he is said to have led a team of criminals that stole Ksh.72 million from a Standard Chartered Bank ATM in Nairobi.

The, criminals posing as police officers on escort, in September 2019 robbed G4S personnel of the said amount in Nairobi West.

The G4S personnel had picked up the cash at around 6am on the fateful day and were escorted by the impostors with two vehicles; one leading and another at the back.

When they arrived at the Standard Chartered Bank ATM in Nairobi West, the G4S team called their headquarters for the password to reload cash into the machine. They opened it and immediately after that the thugs attacked them.

The G4S personnel were told to surrender their phones before the thugs offloaded the cash onto a Toyota Noah vehicle and fled.