Officers drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday arrested the prime suspect behind the USD439 trillion fraud.
According to a statement by the DCI, the suspect, who has been under police radar, was cornered by the Operations Support detectives at his hideout in Gigiri, Nairobi.
The suspect is believed to have been in direct communication with the eight accomplices who were yesterday arraigned at the Milimani Law Court.
"Following his arrest, the suspect is currently under police custody and being processed for arraignment on Monday," DCI stated.
"His Mercedes Benz, which is believed to be a proceeds of fraud, has also been detained," DCI added.
The suspect's eight accomplices were arraigned in court on Friday, with the prosecution preferring charges among them conspiracy to defraud, being in possession of forged bank notes, and possessing police uniforms.
According to the DCI, they pleaded not guilty to the charges and sought to be released on bond.
The eight were on Wednesday arrested at a warehouse in Nairobi while in possession of several boxes stashed with fake US dollars.
DCI narrowed down on the gang while attempting to convince two Dutch nationals to pay $36,000 in a well-orchestrated scam.
The Two Dutch citizens had entered into a cash-on-transit deal involving $439 trillion destined for Dubai from the Central Bank of Togo.
“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),” read part of a statement by DCI.
However, a section of Kenyans questioned the amount, which was 17 times more than the economies of the US & China combined.
DCI, in its response, stated that it published the information as received from its Netherlands counterparts.
