Sh67m fake gold suspects ‘have a bad track record’
By Zadock.Aangira, February 6, 2023
Ten people arrested on Friday over a Sh67 million fake gold scam were under investigations and have previously been charged in court over similar offences.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) also recovered from them two firearms and 470 rounds of ammunition.
The suspects are said to have defrauded $534,000 (about Sh67 million) from two Americans. One of them, Seth Steve Okuthe, had in September 2021 been arrested together with Nigerian Gideon Nuka for defrauding an Italian preacher-cum-businessman over Sh19.5 million.
The suspects failed to deliver a shipment of gold to Dubai as agreed.
The previous year, Okuthe was arrested for defrauding a Nigerian Sh21 million in another gold racket.
The DCI said on Friday they were acting on intelligence reports that led to the arrest of eight Kenyans, one Indian and a Greek, in two separate raids at Nairobi’s Kitusuru and Kilimani suburbs.
“This is one of the latest scams targeting foreigners,” the DCI said.
Those arrested include Okuthe (the director of NewSkys Global Cargo Movers) and Brunoh Otieno Oliende, alias Oyugi.
Detectives said Brunoh was related to gold fraudster Jared Otieno and was running an office in Kitusuru.
Metal boxes
The raid followed a report by Marjorie R. Grant, an American from Los Angeles, California. Brunoh was arrested at his home in Kitusuru. Heavy metal boxes were impounded from them by police as exhibits.
The other suspects are Samuel Wathika Gathuru, Kaisarios Loamms (Greek), Odhiambo Tobias Patrobas, Oketch Moses, Patrick Mugabe, Elisha Mbandi, Teddy Zamora and Siva Sakthi Veru (Indian).
They were arrested at various places on Maalim Juma Road, Kilimani.
“During the raid, Samuel Waithaka was found with a Sigsauer P229 pistol while Steve Okute had a Baretta pistol with 13 rounds of 9mm ammunition,” said DCI officers.
“A Gilboa rifle suspected to have been using the 5.56mm ammo was not found during the raid,” the DCI added.
Detectives also impounded three laptops, coarse stones coated in gold and silver, a cheque book, briefcase with metal-analysing tools, cash machines, rubber stamps inscribed Bukule Tereno Advocates, and assorted metal rods.
The fraudsters claimed to be importers of gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Detectives say they saved Veru from a Sh25 million fraud scam just hours after he landed in Kenya.