The abduction of former Cabinet Minister Fred Gumo's sister-in-law and hr driver has been linked to a terror suspect.
According to reports, Gumo's kin was abducted the same day a convicted terrorist was freed after a 10-year jail term.
Nation on Monday, November 1, 2021, reported that the convict’s mother, his lawyer and a driver to a former assistant minister were abducted on Friday, October 29, hours after armed men had seized the man following his release from Kamiti Maximum prison.
File image of former Westlands MP Fred Gumo. |Photo| Courtesy|
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Gumo's sister-in-law, Jacinta Bwire and her driver Willis Otieno were released on Saturday night, October 30, and Sunday morning, October 31, respectively.
Prof Hassan Nadwa, who also went missing on Friday, still hadn't been located on Sunday afternoon.
Nadwa is said to have represented Elgiva Bwire Oliacha during his trial on terrorism-related charges in 2011.
Reports indicate that he vanished hours after reporting Bwire’s disappearance at Central Police station.
Bwire was convicted for two grenade attacks in Nairobi in 2011. One person was killed and more than 20 wounded in one of the attacks.
He was abducted after his release on Friday.
It remains unclear how Jacinta and her driver secured their freedom or who their abductors were.
She left Gumo’s home on Friday for Kamiti to pick up her son who had been released a day before. Shortly after Bwire was dropped in town by his mother, he was allegedly kidnapped by gunmen.
When his mother learnt that he had been abducted, she went to inform Gumo and that is when she was also kidnapped.
Bwire, also known by the alias Mohamed Seif, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of causing grievous harm, participation in criminal activity, possession of a firearm and ammunition without a license.
In 2005, He entered Somalia through Liboi, to join the Al-Shabaab terror group. He returned to Kenya in August 2011 and resided in Kayole where he began recruiting members.
Later that same year, Bwire confessed to being a member of the militia group, conducting two grenade attacks in Nairobi. The two attacks happened at a bar and at Kaka Bus stage along Race Course road.
He also confessed to carrying a grenade to Nyayo stadium while posing as a hawker during the October 20 Kenyatta Day celebrations presided over by then-President Mwai Kibaki.
Prior to his arrest, Bwire had also confessed on Facebook over his plans to attack 13 locations in Nairobi using grenades and bullets that had been sent to him.
Supreme Council of Muslims chairman Hassan Ole Nado said Jacinta and her husband had gone to his office in April this year to plead for help in securing her son after his release from prison this month.
“They said they were concerned their son may go missing as soon as he is released because of the nature of charges he faced. There was little we could do then,” he said.
Nadwa's family have since said he was not a terrorism sympathiser and that all he did was represent Bwire as an advocate
