The Asset Recovery Agency (AGA) has been given the green light to seize Ksh111 million from a Bahrain national who was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Thursday night, January 27.
This is after Justice Esther Maina granted the application by ARA which sought to recover the funds suspected to be part of a money-laundering scheme.
The judge also ordered the officers at JKIA to surrender the funds to ARA for preservation for a period of 90 days.
"An order is hereby issued for preservation and seizure of the cash amounting to USD977,075 (Ksh111,005,490) found in possession of the respondent and currently in the custody of customs officials at JKIA,” the Judge ordered.
The money had been held as an exhibit as detectives continued with investigations in order to establish the source of the funds.
The foreigner had been arrested at the airport after he was spotted with heavy luggage and upon inspection by customs officials, it was discovered that he had millions of cash hidden in several other bags.
The officers, who probed the foreigner about the source of the funds, revealed that he did not provide a reasonable explanation to justify the millions of cash in his bags.
“On inquiring from him as to the purpose of carrying the bulky cash, he did not provide a reasonable explanation nor documentation in support of the possession of the cash,” ARA stated through its lawyer Jennifer Gitiri.
According to media reports, the foreigner arrived in the country on Thursday, January 13, through the Egyptian Airlines plane.
Detectives had also revealed that the Bahrain national had tried to deposit the money at a local bank before heading to JKIA - an attempt that proved futile. He then proceeded to the airport with loads of cash in his bags before being arrested.
The following day, the Bahrain national was released after spending the night in police custody.
