Two cybercrime suspects alleged to have hacked the bank accounts of Belgian Ambassador to Kenya Jerome Roux and stolen Sh4.8 million have been remanded for seven days to allow for investigators to conclude their work.
Ms Belinda Jepkemoi and Ms Yvoune Chepkurui who had reportedly evaded a police dragnet for five months are being detained at the Gigiri police station, in Nairobi.
Milimani senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi signed off their temporary detention, ruling that the suspects were a flight risk since they had been hopping from one county to another until recently when police cornered them at Kericho.
Mr Ochoi noted that the suspects had been moving between Kericho, Mombasa, and Nairobi Counties to avoid police arrest.
The magistrate said police zeroed in on the suspects at Kericho after tracking them from Mombasa.
The magistrate was responding to a request by crime detective Lawrence Irungu who told the court the suspects are a member of a large syndicate of cybercrime who have caused residents of Nakuru, Kericho, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Uasin Gishu Counties sleepless nights.
He said police need time to carry out an in-depth investigation to unearth the whole scam.
The detective added that police from the cybercrime unit need to comb through a raft of voluminous documents recovered from service providers including Safaricom and banks before drawing charges against the suspects.
The officer told the court the suspects operated using five different cellphone numbers.
“We have recovered the cellphones from the suspects and are subjecting them to forensic examination,” said Mr Irungu.
Further, the crime buster said the syndicate has been conning unsuspecting retirees’ pensions running into tens of millions.
“The syndicate has majored in defrauding senior elderly Kenyans and foreign citizens who are pensioners enjoying their retirement,” Mr Irungu averred.
He said he wants to record statements from 15 victims and other witnesses who hail from various counties.
Mr Irungu said he and other officers have spread their dragnet further and are reaching out to victims to come forward and record statements.
Asked by Mr Ochoi whether they were opposed to the seven-day detention request, Belinda disclosed that she is lactating.
“I have a two-month-old baby who is suckling. I left the baby with my aging mother and I need to be reconciled with my breastfeeding baby,” disclosed she.
Yvoune said she has schoolchildren who need her attention daily and requested for lesser days since “they cannot hinder police probing the cybercrime gadgets in the custody of the police.”
In his ruling, Mr Ochoi directed the probation department to interview the suspect to establish whether she is a lactating mother.
“In the event she is breast-feeding her two-month-old baby let her be remanded at a facility where she can attend to her young one,” ruled Mr Ochoi.
He added that in the event, “she has lied to the court then the necessary action shall be taken.”
Mr Ochoi ordered the suspects to be detained until October 25, 2023 for further directions.
