Police in Nairobi are investigating a gold scam link to the fatal shooting of a man in Kilimani estate on Friday night.
Kevin Omwenga, 28, was shot at his apartment on the seventh floor of Galana Suites on Galana Road by a man described as a “bodyguard” one of his associates after an alleged dispute over the sharing proceeds of a successfully executed fake gold con game.
Detectives are looking at those who were with the deceased in his last moments, his dealings and associations in recent months and what sources say is a “sudden” change of lifestyle.
Mr Omwenga used to sell cars for a commission at a motor bazaar in Lavington between 2016 and last year, when his fortunes suddenly changed.
He quit the job and moved into a house at Galana Suites, where rent is the upwards of Sh150,000 for a furnished apartment. He also changed friends.
Early this year, Mr Omwenga bought a brand-new Porsche Panamera, which costs at least Sh14 million. Photographs of the white car have been circulated on social media posts for some months now. There is also a video of Mr Omwenga receiving congratulatory messages on buying the car.
“Congratulations bro,” says a man holding a camera pointing to the car before it pans to Omwenga, who responds, “Thank you my brother, word to the hustle men.”
“I am so happy for you, my friend. The Panamera has arrived,” shouts a female voice in yet another undated video.
But Omwenga is now dead. And two of his new friends, Chris Obure and Robert Bodo, are being investigated as the key suspects.
Mr Obure is a suspected fake gold dealer, who has previously been in trouble for alleged misuse of firearms.
Mr Bodo is a close associate of Mr Obure and acts as his bodyguard, according to police investigations. He was arrested on Friday night after presenting himself to the police while Mr Obure was apprehended yesterday morning at his house in Riverside, Nairobi.
“Detectives based at Kilimani have this morning arrested Robert Bodo and recovered a Mini Ceska firearm with 13 rounds of ammunition suspected to have been used in the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man at Galana Suites in Kilimani,” said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) after the arrest.
“The firearm, which has been kept as an exhibit, will be subjected to ballistic analysis as further investigations ensue to unravel the motive of the shooting.”
Sources close to the investigation have told the Sunday Nation that the two suspects will be presented in court on Monday, with a request to allow detectives more time to hold them as investigations continue.
Some of the questions the police will be seeking answers to before deciding on whether to press charges is who between Obure and Bodo pulled the trigger and why.
The weapon believed to have been used in the killing, a Ceska Pistol serial number B156623 linked to Mr Obure, was found in his office on Friday night.
The Sunday Nation has established that this is the same pistol which Mr Obure was accused of using to threaten a reveller at an entertainment joint on New Year’s Day, 2017.
He was charged in court and the firearm withdrawn for alleged misuse. The case however collapsed after the complainant failed to show up in court.
The big question now is how Mr Obure, who has in the past been involved in at least five cases involving gun misuse in Nairobi, got the firearm back.
We understand that the gun had been handed back to the Fire Arms Registration Board in January 2019 by the DCI, when the Interior Ministry announced a clean-up of the guns registry.
As detectives try to find out how the murder weapon found its way back to Mr Obure, they will equally be seeking to know the relationship between the suspects and the deceased.
Mr Obure has an office on the first floor of Santeu Plaza, which is next to Mr Omwenga’s residence at Galana Suites. It is in this same building that Mr Obure operates what he claims to be a luxury private airline company, Glo Jet International.
The firm, on its website, also says it has offices in the United States and Peru.
Curiously, Mr Obure who is listed as part of an “international” management team of Glo Jet, is referred to as Chris Hammad Junior, Vice-Chairman and Chief Investment Advisor.
But there is conflicting information about what happened during the hours leading to and moments before Mr Omwenga’s shooting.
A police report shows that Mr Omwenga’s brother reported that the deceased was in the company of two other men and a woman at house number 703 in Galana Suites.
“While in the kitchen preparing supper, he heard a gunshot from Kevin Omwenga's bedroom, where he was with the said Robert Bodo. On rushing there, he found Robert Bodo in a hurry to leave,” says the police report.
One set of sources says Omwenga, Bodo and Obure were at Glo Jet’s offices on the first floor for the better part of Friday. They then retreated to Mr Omwenga’s house to celebrate what detectives believe was a fake gold deal they had executed.
Yet other sources point to a previous disagreement on splitting money from an alleged fake gold deal in March, where a down-payment was made by a buyer.
Detectives are also be looking into allegations that Mr Omwenga felt he had been short-changed and wanted to take over the rest of the deal, escalating the dispute.
