The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday arrested three individuals accused of scamming two foreign nationals Ksh340 million in a fake gold deal.
The three were taken into custody at a Nairobi detention facility after scamming a foreigner and his business partner after they first lured them to travel to Kenya in June 2022 with an intention of selling them 100kg of gold.
Marco was convinced to pay Ksh51.6 million in duty through a law firm at the beginning of their business contact.
According to the DCI, Marco was given 12kgs of gold which the seller said he was free to fly out as hand luggage and sell it in order to recover the funds he had paid earlier in the initial transaction.
Things, however, took a sharp twist when the foreigner who was was about to leave the country was shortchanged by being informed that he could not leave with the 12kg since it was to be part of the larger package of the purchase, making it a total of 112kg.
The seller, according to the investigative agency, was told by the suspects to store the gold in a safe box at Mysafe Vaults at Village Market in Gigiri, Nairobi, which he accepted.
It was at this point that Marco was convinced to leave the country and assured that the deal had materialised. He returned in February 2024 with his partner who was interested in buying the gold in question.
They then proceeded to make business arrangements with the seller about making the 112 kg purchase and the suspect convinced them that he was willing to provide 31kgs of gold for shipping out of the country and this would cover for the money that Marco had paid in 2022.
The seller also promised to cater for the expenses that the tycoon would further incur in the process of shipping out the 112kgs after buying the same.
The other suspects came into play at this point. Four suspects, including a Tanzanian agent, were introduced into the deal. They invoiced the tycoon's company Ksh23.2 million and Ksh78.4 million and instructed that the money be paid at a local bank in Kenya.
Soon after they left the country, two of the suspects promised to bring with them the consignment and the necessary documents to the airport but they failed to honor their end of the bargain.
‘’The foreigners flew out and while in Italy, (the suspect) informed them that an error in declaring the weight of the consignment had led to confiscation by the customs department and in addition, their license had also been suspended.’’ DCI noted in a statement.
The tycoon flew back to Kenya and paid out the money through the local bank account hoping to rescue the said gold despite having suspicions about the deal.
The DCI revealed the three suspects are in their custody and are also investigating the conduct of the lawyers involved for breach of legal services and they will be arraigned in court after completion of investigations.
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