A witness narrated to the court how he and his team of police detectives used intelligence information to arrest two prime suspects who allegedly defrauded $30,850 equivalent to Sh3 million from a foreign trader by falsely pretending they could sell him 10kg of gold.
the witness, Stanley Mesembi from the DCI’s Transnational Organised Crime Unit told Milimani trial magistrate Caroline Njagi that they arrested Mohammed Akabar Rashi alias Ammit Gathi and Yulian Stankov Pentrov alias Vikta Rosta at Lavington Mall after hunting them in different places without success.
The officer was testifying in a case in which Rashi and Yulian are charged with obtaining 30850 US dollars from Laxmi Narian Jildal by falsely pretending that they were in a position to sell him 10kg of gold.
They have since denied committing the offense between February 27,2019 and April 27, 2019 in Nairobi county.
Yulian alone is accused of being unlawfully present in the country without valid documents from the Immigration Department in contravention of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act.
The court heard that during the arrest, the accused persons were found with proforma invoices belonging to Air Cargo Limited.
Mesembi told the court that the complainant reported the matter after at DCI’s office headquarters where he and his team of detectives started hinting at the suspects. He said they first laid an ambush at Diamond plaza in Westlands but the suspects never appeared.
“Your honor using intelligence information we proceeded to Lavington Mall in Westlands where we laid ambush and manded to arrest Rashi and Yulian,” said the witness.
Prior to the incident, DCI George Kinoti had warned that foreign businessmen trading in gold will have to be subjected to compulsory scrutiny by government agencies before being allowed to continue with their activities.
The DCI said that the country has experienced rampant cases where con artists defraud unsuspecting individuals by selling them fake gold.
“DCI attention has been drawn to an upsurge in criminal cases involving the procurement and sale of gold in the country. The gold scam has now reached alarming levels as unsuspecting foreign nationals are being swindled large amounts of money by the fraudsters,” he said.
They urged high commissions to join the fight against the vice by advising their nationals engaged in trade to follow procedures.
“We urge the embassies (High Commissions) to advise their nationals coming in for business to be apprised of the con business of gold going on in the country and first contact the Department of Mines and Geology for the procedure that pertains to buying and selling of gold and other precious metals,” DCI said.
