A foreigner was arrested by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for being in the country illegally and being in possession of a Kenyan identification card.
On Monday, July 3, the DCI told a Makadara Law Court that it did not know the nationality of the man who fraudulently obtained Kenyan documents.
Further, the directorate in its submissions noted that the man had used a fake birth certificate to apply for a Kenyan passport.
However, the man through his lawyer asked to be freed insisting that he was innocent.
“If at all there are any investigations to be made, we have stated that he is ready to avail himself at the DCI headquarters,” his lawyer stated.
Senior Principal Magistrate Helen Okwani gave the officers 24 hours to complete their investigations into the matter and submit their findings before the court.
However, the directorate through a miscellaneous application asked to be granted two more weeks citing the technicalities involved in the investigation.
Therefore instead of holding him for 24 hours, the magistrate allowed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) to detain him for 14 more days.
"Putting into consideration the government document that was acquired, and that the suspect is a dangerous person and he is able to interfere with the process," the magistrate noted.
In February 2021, the government through the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA), launched a system for reporting cases of fake certificates as part of a crackdown on forgeries.
The anonymous reporting system according to the agency would weed out holders of fake certificates. Further, the agency disclosed at the time that one in every three Kenyans possessed fake documents.
The portal used to report cases of fake certificates is accessed via rev.knqa.go.ke/cheti-mwitu.
