Detectives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) have arrested a suspect believed to have masterminded the Ksh810 million fake gold scheme.
Frederick Thuranira M'mburi was arrested on Wednesday, May 1, at night when detectives raided his house in Utawala, Githunguri Area.
According to DCI, the suspect is believed to have orchestrated the scheme where a Georgian national lost Ksh810 million (USD 6 million).
"Following a complaint by a Georgian national who lost over USD 6 million to fake gold racketeers who duped him into a 161,000kg gold deal, one suspect has been arrested at a home within Utawala's Githunguri area and cash in fake USD and fake gold nuggets found therein confiscated," the statement read in part.
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The merchant of Georgia was reported to have traded tonnes of gold bars with a Ghanaian partner through a letter of administration before the High Court of Justice in Ghana, thereafter spending USD 6,090,500 on the movement of the consignment from Ghana to Kenya, documentation and storage services.
Preliminary investigations by OSU detectives reveal that the victim was duped and no gold was transported to Ghana.
"Further established is that scammers in countries believed to mine gold are conspiring with local and foreign accomplices stationed at Kenya's capital (Nairobi) to fleece clueless merchants, it being a strategic transit route for the precious metal from most African countries to UAE and other countries," DCI added.
Following the raid, detectives recovered 23,600 notes (100 denominations) in fake US currency stuffed in two travelling bags and a steel box.
Also seized were the fake gold nuggets in eight green canvas bags weighing approximately 10kg each.
