Following Al Jazeera’s investigative documentary on gold scams that happen in Zimbabwe led by Kamlesh Pattni, police in Kenya have stepped up the hunt for gold scammers in the country. Currently, Two suspects, Nicholas Otieno Ndolo and Thomas “Tom” Otieno Ngoe, were on this week arraigned before Kibera Senior Principal Magistrate Charles Mwaniki over allegations of gold scamming.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sought to detain them for 14 days pending investigations into the matter.
The complainant, who is a foreigner, had been introduced to Ndolo as a businessman dealing in the gold business.
They had agreed on the purchase of 3,000kg of gold at USD 41,000 per kg, totalling USD 123,000,000.
Ndolo provided an Equity Bank Account to the foreigner for the wired money.
However, the complainant later realized that some of the documents related to the purchase of the gold, such as the customs entry, were not genuine.
According to detectives, Ndolo started to avoid meeting the complainant and even threatened him with deportation from Kenya, prompting the foreigner to make a report at DCI Operations Support Unit.
Upon investigations at Equity Bank, where the money was wired, it was discovered that the bank account was operated by Thomas Otieno Ngoe, the second suspect.
The detectives claim that the rest of the amount had been transferred to other accounts.
Further investigations by the detectives led to the recovery of a firearm from the vehicle the suspects were driving.
The firearm is believed to have been used in other crimes and is therefore subject to further forensic analysis to establish how it was acquired by the second suspect.
DCI has stated that investigations into the matter are still ongoing, and they aim to recover the defrauded money.
But as DCI continues chasing small boys in the gold scamming trade, the godfathers of gold scams are walking free in Kenya and wining and dining with the high and mighty.
It is believed that the likes of Ngoe report to the masters of the scam, who include people like Paul Kobia. They are deputized by Chris Obure who can’t even spell 1 to 10 backward.
His principal partner is celebrated fraudster Paul Kobia severally been arrested over gold scamming over the years.
The police should stop preferential treatment and arrest all these gold scammers giving Kenya a bad name internationally.
The suspects are currently in custody even though they pleaded with the police to go after their masters, something the Kenya Police are not willing to do, as the probe continues.
