A 44-year-old man arrested for allegedly defrauding a woman of Sh12 million in a fake land deal was arraigned in court on Monday.
Abdi Yusuf Mohammed appeared before magistrate BenMark Ekhubi and denied charges of obtaining money by false pretences.
It is alleged that between the 29th of June and the 22nd of November 2023, at an unknown place within Nairobi County, with intent to defraud, Mohammed obtained Sh12 million from Satho Umalkher Adan.
He pretended he was in a position to sell her the parcel of land in Garisa, a fact he knew to be false.
He, however, pleaded not guilty, saying that the land belonged to him.
Magistrate Ekhubi released him on a cash bail of Sh1.5 million, and the matter is to be mentioned on April 21.
Cases of land fraud have been on the rise amid operations to tame the trend.
Last week, five individuals were arraigned before the Chief Magistrate Court in Mombasa on charges of obtaining land registration through fraudulent means.
The accused, Edward Marenye Kiguru, Abubakar Madey, and Joseph Matheka, are implicated in a fraudulent land registration scheme involving a 12-acre parcel of land in Miritini, Mombasa County, valued at over Sh150 million.
This land, originally registered to Kingorani Investment Limited in the early 1990s, was unlawfully transferred to Mahmoud Abdalla Mahmoud and Mohamed Saleh Hassan.
The investigation was initiated by a complaint regarding the eviction of employees of the complainant from the contested property by the five suspects.
The resultant file was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who upon perusal granted consent to bring charges against the suspects.
A manhunt ensued, resulting in the arrest of Edward Marenye Kiguru, a registered private surveyor in Mombasa County, on April 7, 2025.
His accomplices, Mahmoud Abdalla Mahmoud and Mohamed Saleh Hassan, attempted to flee to Nairobi upon realizing that detectives were closing in on them. However, their escape was short-lived, as they were captured at their hideout in a Nairobi hotel and subsequently returned to Mombasa.
Joseph Matheka, a land administrator recently based in Eldoret, was arrested at his residence in Kangundo Road.
He had previously partnered with the fraudsters while serving in a similar capacity in Kilifi County.
The final suspect, Abubakar Madey, a private registered physical planner also based in Mombasa, turned himself in to the police after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
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