The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has confirmed the arrest of a suspected fake gold merchant following a joint operation conducted by its officers and colleagues from the Kenya Police Service in Lang’ata Sub-County.
According to the DCI, the suspect was apprehended at Sultan Suites, Ngong View Estate, after being linked to a fraudulent gold deal involving a Pakistani national.
The foreigner had reported to the police that he was conned out of Ksh4,506,600 (USD 34,800) after being presented with 500 grams of counterfeit gold.
Investigations established that the suspect received the payment in cash before the buyer realised he had been duped.
Subsequent testing confirmed that the gold was fake, prompting the complainant to lodge a report at Karen Police Station, which triggered a swift operation leading to the suspect’s arrest.
According to the DCI, a search conducted at the suspect’s office uncovered ten bars of suspected fake gold, business cards, a MacBook Pro laptop, smelting machines, a mining certificate under the name Chawanda Minerals, a weighing machine, and two plastic boxes containing sand.
Police also recovered several assorted files and documents believed to be linked to the fraudulent scheme.
The suspect remains in custody as investigators finalise their probe, with plans underway to arraign him in court to face fraud-related charges.
Last month, two suspects behind a sophisticated scheme to defraud Dubai nationals were arrested after months on the run.
Detectives from the elite Operation Support Unit (OSU) confirmed the arrest of the two suspects, believed to be the masterminds of the gold scam, which saw a Dubai national lose USD 54,000 (around Ksh8.5 million).
Gold scams have grown to be a lucrative business, with some locals mainly targeting unsuspecting foreigners. Still in August, as part of efforts to crack down on transnational gold fraud syndicates, detectives arrested a Kenyan man who was involved in a scam targeting a Canadian investor, resulting in losses of Ksh80.34 million.
Investigators from the Operations Support Unit (OSU) said that the suspect played a central role in a fake gold export deal that defrauded the foreign investor.
