DCI detectives probing Senator, two MPs after 10 suspects arrested in Ksh.1B fake gold scam

Ten suspected gold scammers, including a police officer, were on Friday arrested following an operation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The operation that started Thursday last week has saved a Tunisia national Ksh.1 billion that he was about to spend in the purchase of one tonne of fake gold.

DCI boss Amin Mohammed on Friday morning made his way to the crime scene at Garden Estate area of Nairobi, where detectives impounded fake gold and fake dollar notes used by scammers to defraud unsuspecting businessmen in a house converted into a high end office.

The operation led to the arrest of 10 people, including a police officer attached to the DCI offices in Kitui, and who is suspected to be among officers protecting the scammers in the country.

“The operation started all the way in Tunisia when they claimed they have the capacity of selling him gold...when he suspected and reported the matter to us,” said DCI Amin.

At around 3am on Friday last week is when the victim jetted into the country, and after almost an hour at a stop with no one to pick him up, he was convinced by a taxi driver that he would be delivered safely to his intended destination.

He was then driven all the way to Ngara area of Nairobi where he stayed incommunicado till Thursday this week, when he was asked to come to the Garden Estate office.

He was to pay Ksh.400 million before being allowed to see the gold, and after smelting and verifying a sample, he was meant to pay the remaining Ksh.600 million. He however did not show up alone.

Detectives in the company of the DCI’s tactical team raided the office, arresting 10 people; two people, one of whom is suspected to be armed, escaped by ripping a shade net fencing done to increase the height of the perimeter wall and allow for privacy.

“This is a huge cartel that likes to drop big names to intimidate officers, and they also operate in a very sophisticated manner,” added DCI Amin.

The DCI boss is now investigating a sitting Senator, two sitting Members of Parliament and senior officers in the National Police Service (NPS) who made frantic calls to try and free up the suspects.

The scammers also deal in fake currency stashed in metal boxes in one of the rooms here.

“Many victims have lost humongous amounts of money, they were almost making our country particularly Kilimani area the centre of their operations but we are now coming for them,” added Amin.

The scammers set up fully fledged offices, to be used as the addresses to cut multimillion deals. Others play the roles of different government agents.

“Some pretend to be police officers, others KRA, others even custom officers complete with documentation that we have since discovered are fake documents,” noted Amin.

The impounded items including a pistol, phones and loads of metal boxes used to store the fake money and gold were taken to the DCI headquarters.

The suspects are expected to be arraigned on Monday.