Countless of Kenyans have fallen victim to a group of con artists who are using the upcoming eye-catching skyscraper on the edge of the southern by-pass - the Curve, The Standard reported.
One of the victims identified as John told a chilling tale of his nasty encounter with the criminals back in May 2019, in vivid detail.
A transporter and property developer by profession, he was approached by one of the scouts (usually sent out to identify and pull in potential victims), who went on to claim that there were excess construction materials at the housing project along Mombasa Road, just a few metres from the Next Gen Mall.
He went on to promise discounted steel bars, an offer that seemed too good to ignore.
On the appointed day, John drove to the construction site where held a brief meeting with an Asian man who introduced himself as the constructor in charge of the multi-million shilling project.
Their off-the-books transaction was sealed over a beverage at the Next Gen Mall where John handed over Ksh 200,000 in cash to the unidentified Asian.
"The mastermind of the racket directed a hireling to go and ensure all the steel was loaded on my truck,” he recalled.
However, upon reaching the project site, the hireling claimed to have gone to look for a few casual labourers to help in the loading process.
He then handed over a bunch of keys and papers to John, stating that they were crucial in facilitating the movement of his heavily discounted steel bars, then dashed off across the busy Mombasa Road.
Luckily, John immediately felt that something was wrong and ran after him, leading to a dramatic chase that ended up with the hireling in police custody.
Other victims weren't as lucky with an officer stationed at Akila Police post in South C claiming to have countless of such cases in their Occurrence Book.
“We have received many cases in the last two years. I will need some time to get all the data because the cases are scattered in different Occurrence Books dating back to 2017,” one of the officers told The Standard.
When Spartan Developers (in charge of the multi-billion shilling project) were contacted, they were shocked and vowed to put up a sign stating that they were not selling any materials, so as to warn any future victims.
