Editor's Review

The Luo-Nyanza politician suspected to defraud victims Sh 13 million was arrested at the JKIA where he had boarded a Kisumu-bound flight.

A one-time Luo-Nyanza politician is being detained ahead of arraignment after being arrested by detectives.

Jonathan Okoth Opande was apprehended by the DCI investigators at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) where he was boarding a flight to Kisumu.

According to the DCI, the politician was on the radar of the detectives after being reported for defrauding two Thai nationals upward of KSh 13 million in a fake gold deal.

The victims of the fraud had flown to Nairobi from Thailand in April this year when it dawned on them they had been fleeced.

They would then lodge a plaint at the Royal Thai Embassy in Nairobi.

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File photo of Jonathan Opande.

Identified as Messrs Kitvisit Songsri and Nutsaphol Songsri, the victims said Opande posing as the CEO of Blu Afrique LTD obtained the money from them in the pretext that he would supply them with gold.

Opande, who unsuccessfully contested the Nyakach Parliamentary seat in the last year's elections, had escaped detectives' dragnet for a time until Friday, October 6, when he was arrested.

His suspected accomplice, Fred Obach Oliech, was arrested on August 23.

A raid by the detectives at Opande’s office in Lavington’s Gatina area led to the recovery of KRA export seals, a dust coat branded Ministry of Mining and digital weighing scales among other crucial exhibits, the DCI said.

He is currently being held at Buruburu police station pending arraignment on Monday, October 9.