The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) was on Wednesday forced to defend the agency after alleging that it arrested eight Kenyans involved in a $439 trillion scam.
According to DCI, the eight were targeting two foreign businessmen from the Netherlands.
Kenyans requested clarity on how a few individuals could be involved in a scam that was tenfold more than the United States and China economies.
To put it in perspective, the US economy is worth $26 trillion, while China’s economy in 2023 was worth $18 trillion.
On the other hand, Kenya’s economy as of 2023 was worth $118 billion (Ksh18 trillion).
“It is Netherlands authorities who gave us the valuation of the scam, we were also shocked,” DCI responded to the contested amount.
DCI assured the public that they were conducting a parallel investigation and would update Kenyans should the amount be revised.
The eight Kenyans were arrested in a warehouse in Nairobi with several boxes stashed with fake US dollars.
Additionally, the Kenyans had suspected stolen jungle fatigues from Administration Police, military boots, and customs reflector jackets.
“In this orchestrated fraudulent scheme, the foreigners were contacted through a WhatsApp call by a number registered in the name 'Canopy Shield Agencies', by a caller who informed them that their consignment of 40 pallets had been held at the Kenya Customs Warehouse pending duty fee payment of $36,000 (Ksh5.4 million),” a statement from DCI read in part.
According to DCI, the complainants had entered into a cash-on-transit deal involving $439 trillion destined for Dubai from the Central Bank of Togo.
The eight Kenyans were arrested while convincing the two Dutch nationals to pay $36,000.
“The operation is ongoing with the two foreign nationals being investigatively interviewed to shed light on the business deal in question,” DCI stated.
