A serial land fraudster was arrested inside DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road on Thursday, December 7.
According to DCI, in a statement on Friday, the suspect, identified as JM, walked inside the DCI Mazingira complex and attempted to bribe a land fraud investigations unit (LFIU) officer to slow down investigations into a land grabbing case.
DCI was puzzled by the audacity of the wanted land scammer who wanted the investigator to delay the investigations by two months.
The suspect was believed to be part of a gang of fraudsters targeting elderly white residents in the posh Nairobi suburbs.
DCI has been investigating the suspect and his accomplice in a land grabbing case, where the two had been accused of stealing 0.2026 hectares parcel of land in the Thome V area.
"In this case, a team led by JM had on December last year been thrown out of the land in question which is located behind Roasters Hotel, after they were found erecting a perimeter wall under his supervision.
"At the time, the case of attempted grabbing had been reported to the LFIU by yet another interested grabber, who melted away as soon as investigations gained momentum," DCI stated.
After doing more investigations, DCI discovered that the land belonged to a deceased Kenyan, whose wife and kids were being threatened by a gang reportedly led by JM.
JM had, at the time, vanished after failing to produce ownership documents for the contested land, reappearing recently when he asked to meet with the Investigating Officer regarding the case.
The suspect was also battling a similar case at the time, where he was accused of involvement in a land-grabbing saga in the Runda area.
"JM placed Ksh200,000 on the table as a tip to the officer, all this time unaware that the office they had been ushered into had mounted cameras that recorded all the ongoing."
"DCI Operations detectives moved in and whisked them away with the exhibits for processing and arraignment." they further stated.
The suspects were on Friday morning released on a Ksh200,000 cash bail, awaiting arraignment in court as the office further pursued the case file bearing the appropriate charges.
DCI further revealed that the said cartel had numerous standing cases of land fraud, including a case on January 18, 2023, where JM impersonated the Deputy OCS Karen Police Station in an attempt to grab a home in Kren belonging to a foreigner.
