Bwire sent shivers among security agents in 2011 after sneaking with a grenade into a packed stadium.
Missing terrorist Elgiva Bwire Oliacha aka Seif Deen Mohamed aka Japhar aka Japhel Okuku aka Abu Muadh was a marked man before he was arrested in November 2011.
This was after his family reported to police he was missing and was suspected to have crossed to Somalia for the radicalization process.
But it never caused much concern when he went missing in February 2010.
It was until Mashujaa Day on October 20, 2011, when he bumped into his mother Jacinta Bwire at the Nyayo Stadium.
At the stadium, he was carrying a grenade covered in a basin full of sweets.
He had carried one grenade to Nyayo Stadium “for a test run.”
In the stadium, he posed as a hawker selling sweets.
Police were to later find the grenade and sweets when they staged a raid on his house.
Elgiva told police he went to the stadium and mingled with wananchi who had arrived for the occasion that was presided over by retired President Mwai Kibaki under tight security.
Security agencies had fears of an attack but did not know the attacker was Elgiva who had posed as a hawker and slipped through their checks.
He decided not to detonate the explosive because of the rain and because a chance meeting with his mother distracted him.
Image: FILE
Jacinta told police she bumped into him after almost a year as he walked out of the stadium.
Elgiva left the stadium with his deadly cargo and went to his house, which did not have a single piece of furniture, save for a prayer mat.
Jacinta said then that was her first meeting with her son since February 2010.
She said Elgiva, the third born of her five children, told her then that he had been in Mombasa and had only returned to Nairobi in August 2011.
SELF-CONFESSED TERRORIST
After his arrest, he confessed to being a terrorist and a member of the al-Shabaab terror group.
Elgiva attended primary school in Dandora and disappeared from home in February 2010 until a year later. He had gone to Somalia where he was radicalized.
He said then he received instructions via an email telling him to pick a piece of luggage from Eastleigh, Nairobi.
Therein were 20 grenades and bullets.
It is not clear how the cargo was transported to Eastleigh but officials aware said they traced and trapped all those involved in the chain.null
Elgiva later said he used seven grenades before he was caught.
Ironically, he had posted a message on Facebook using his official page stating he would attack 13 more locations before he was arrested.
This had passed the attention of security agents.
He is missing since October 28 after he was set free from Kamiti Maximum Prisons.
He had been jailed for life but appealed and was reduced to 10 years, which he served.
Image: FILE
His mother, her driver and a brother who had gone to pick him up were abducted and later released.
They are yet to explain what happened and by who.
His lawyer and Islamic scholar Prof Hassan Nandwa was also abducted and released after 10 days in the hands of his captors.
He later refused to discuss the issue.
Police claimed they had received reports Elgiva promised his former friends who are serving various charges on terrorism at Kamiti Maximum Prison that he will stage an attack to free them immediately after being released.
Police say they suspect he rejoined a terror cell, which he was in contact with while at Kamiti Prison.
The police are now appealing to members of the public, relatives and acquaintances to be on the lookout and immediately report to the nearest police station in case they spot him.
Further, the police are also urging Public Service Vehicles operators and bodaboda riders to be on high alert and report to the law enforcement agencies in case they encounter the former convict.
Police have since circulated a wanted person notice with Elgiva’s image on it.
Police spokesman Bruno Shioso has denied knowledge of the terrorist’s whereabouts.
This was after the Law Society of Kenya moved to court and applied for his production in court.
Previously, Elgiva travelled to Somalia in 2010 to join al-Shabaab and was subsequently dispatched to the country in August 2011 to carry out terrorist attacks.
He was the head of a local cell known as the Al-Ghuraba whose activities was mainly to carry out attacks in Nairobi targeting members of the public in social joints and passengers picking points as well as security personnel.
According to reports, his mission was also to recruit unsuspecting Kenyan youth into his terrorist activities as well as acquire more firearms for his terrorism enterprise.
Elgiva was behind the grenade attacks at Kwa Mwaura Bar on October 17, 2011, where one person lost his life and 28 others were injured.
He was also behind the grenade attack at OTC bus station on October 24, 2011, where two people were left with serious injuries.
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