Police officers from the Luck Summer Police Station on December 22 apprehended a 38-year-old man for allegedly leading a counterfeit currency ring in Nairobi, seizing fake U.S. dollars in the process.
This happened following an intelligence-led operation targeting a vehicle believed to be transporting the counterfeit currency. Detectives tracked and intercepted a white Toyota Prado in the Lucky Summer area.
Officers searched the vehicle and discovered a locked metallic blue box concealed in the boot.
The accused refused to open the box, even after being requested to do so by the officers. They then requested that he drive to the police station for further interrogation.
At the station, officers forced open the box, uncovering sixty-eight bundles of counterfeit U.S. dollar notes, each bundle containing 100 fake bills.
Additionally, they found cartons, newspapers, cotton wool, sand, and stones, items that they believed were used to disguise the contents and evade detection during transportation.
The detention came amid a rise in counterfeit-related cases handled by the DCI throughout the year.
In August this year, two women were apprehended in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area after detectives recovered fake U.S. currency worth USD 560,000, which was approximately equivalent to about Ksh70 million. The notes were reportedly concealed in a handbag during the operation.
In a separate incident in Ngara, Nairobi, seven people, including Kenyan, Tanzanian and Congolese nationals, were detained at Travellers House.
The detectives seized 36 bundles of fake U.S. dollars, along with plastic replicas and black paper normally used in the making of the counterfeit notes.
Authorities also carried out a major crackdown in October and November along the coast, apprehending three people in Kwale County and another in Lang’ata. During the operations, officers recovered counterfeit currency valued at approximately USD 31,700.
The accused was held at the police station, undergoing processing pending arraignment as detectives dug deeper to unravel the full extent of the syndicate.
