7 arrested in Nairobi attempting to scam Malaysians in fake gold deal

Seven fake gold syndicate suspects were on Wednesday arrested by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations whilst in the midst of a transactional meeting to fraud two Malaysian nationals.

Frustrated and visibly shocked, Halid Mohamed Yaacob and Zulkannaain bin Ramali landed in Kenya from Kuala Lumpur on Monday, following an invitation by Rock Africa miner operated by the suspects made up by six Kenyans and one Congolese national who has an active case in court and out on bond.

The seven are Didier Muke, Brian Otiende, Patrick Otieno, Mark Kabete, Ken Kiboi, Joshua Ngandi and Charles Cincent Njerenga.

In a well-choreographed scheme, they had set up an operational base in a house in Kileleshwa, with fully furnished office-style rooms to steal from unsuspecting foreign nationals.

Yacoob and Ramali were to meet the seven this morning, to finalize on the first shipment of 50 kg refined gold, per kilogram going for Ksh.7.2 million.

The 500-kilogram gold amounting to Ksh.2.85 billion was to be sourced from the democratic republic of Congo.

A few minutes into the meeting, detectives from the directorate of criminal investigations busted what would have amounted to billions of shillings in fake gold scheme.

Astonishingly, the suspects had hired a G4S security team to keep a guard at the main entrance and as they engaged the Malaysia nationals, the G4S guards were part of those arrested by the DCI officials and set for arraignment in court on Thursday.

This latest ring of fake gold scheme meant to swindle the two Malaysians becomes part of a long list of similar incidents where foreign nationals are scammed.