Three suspects who were involved in a gold scam have been released on a cash bail of Ksh.100,000 each pending further hearing.
The three, Fauzia Wanjiru alias Issa, Shallo Fatma alias Tett and Jackson Ochieng, were arraigned before the Milimani Law courts on Monday where they were facing a charge of attempting to obtain money by false pretense, to which they pleaded not guilty.
They were arrested on Saturday afternoon during a police raid in Nairobi’s posh Runda estate after a complaint was made by a South African national identified as Ralph Manyaka, who was set to be defrauded a colossal amount of money by the suspects.
Manyaka had allegedly imported 30kgs of gold from Sierra Leone to Dubai via Kenya. He however received information that his consignment had been confiscated in Nairobi.
He immediately flew to Kenya where he met a man identifying as a customs official George Otieno who told the victim that his consignment could not be dispatched because there were few customs discrepancies and needed to pay Ksh.5.3 million ($36,000) to have the goods released.
“I saw the consignment; my signature was on it exactly as I signed in Sierra Leone. He said the issues are the insurance and declaration. But the other thing is that the buyer wanted to change the consigning details,” he told Citizen TV.
Fake US dollars, a gold induction melting machine, an export permit for minerals and samples of minerals bearing the names TENG GERM LTD and KRA stickers are among other crucial exhibits were recovered in the house during the raid.
The case is set to be heard at city court on October 30, 2023.
