Detectives from the flying squad, on Monday, arrested 6 suspects at Lenana 51 Apartments along Lenana Road within Kilimani area in possession of over 50kg of fake gold contrary to section 203 Mining Act 12 of 2016 Laws of Kenya.
The suspects have since been identified as Grace Wairimu Machatha, Erasocs Katiku Josiah, Niyitegeka Sevelin, Dushimiriman Egie , Zilimwabagabu Jacrries, and Ngagagura Emmanuel as reported by Citizen Digital.
During their arraignment, the 4 Rwandese nationals and two Kenyans were reportedly arrested following a tip-off to the police by unidentified members of the public.
“On April 15, 2019 Flying Squad Officers acting on information from the members of the public went to Lenana 51 Apartments along Lenana Road," revealed a section of the testimony presented in court
A Daily Nation exposé published last week revealed that fake gold was the tool of the trade for con artists who have come up with an elaborate scheme to bleed unsuspecting buyers dry.
A kilo of gold currently goes for approximately Ksh4.2 million in the world market, a fact which the con artists have used to siphon millions off naive and at times greedy clients.
The con game usually involves the fraudster claiming to be well connected in Congo with limitless access to logistics networks that could bring the price down to Ksh2.5 million per kilo.
Once they land, the foreigners are given first-class treatment from the airport all the way to getting checked in at 5-star hotels.
The fraudsters then ask them to pay some dubious export processing fees after being furnished with documents that at first look appear to be genuine.
Once the alleged export processing fee is paid, excuses crop up, making the clients part with more money until they give up.
Appealing to the clients' greedy nature has seen such con artists grow stinking rich at the expense of their targets, the huge price variation is usually so blinding, the majority never take time to take a step back and examine the entire transaction.
In 2012, the UN gave Kenya a list of 15 suspected gold traffickers whose activities, it believed were funding civil wars in DR Congo.
The latest fake gold bust comes barely weeks since a bomb squad discovered 70Kg fake gold at Barclays Bank Queensway branch following a raid as well as metal boxes full of fake gold nuggets confiscated at a house in Ruiru.
