Detectives arrested two people including a German national in an operation in a probe into a Sh52 million fraud at the Red Ruby Hotel along Ojijo Road in Parklands.
Julius Kirimi Muthuri and a German National Richard Olaf Heinig are suspected of having scammed a Swiss National over Sh52 million and were ready to fleece him more today just before the lynx-eyed detectives pounced on them.
TWO IN CUSTODY FOR SWINDLING A FOREIGN NATIONAL OVER 52 MILLION SHILLINGS
DCI Operations Support Unit detectives have today arrested Julius Kirimi Muthuri and a German National Richard Olaf Heinig at Red Ruby Hotel along Ojijo Road in Parklands. The two individuals are… pic.twitter.com/3umCbvqmQn
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) September 9, 2024
The victim fell into the hands of the two scammers after he was informed by his ailing father who had worked in Ghana that about twenty years ago, he acquired some property in Ghana which he later sold and left the proceeds under the custody of a trustee in Ghana.
In pursuit of this treasure, he connected with a Ghanian lady namely Mamee Efua Esong who was the translator during the transaction and proceeded to contact and meet her in the year 2020.
This lady claimed to be familiar with his father’s earlier transactions and confirmed to him that the proceeds of the sale of the property were available to a tune of USD 62.8 million but the same needed a special purpose company for ease of trasfer.
Police say the Swiss national was tricked into registering a company that was to be used to transfer the money to his home country but not before paying taxes and facilitation money to the scammers in Ghana, Dubai, Tanzania, Uganda and later Kenya all in a bid to have his father’s consignment move to Switzerland.
While in Kenya, he was introduced to Mr. Richard Olaf Heinig who would later enjoin Julius Muthuri Kirimi in November, 2023 who claimed to own Lawsam Security Company which was hired to transport and store the cargo which was allegedly inspected and stored in a Nairobi airport where he would later be denied access to the containers forcing him to part with approximately USD 400,000 to the suspects in facilitation fees.
After spending a fortune, he realized that he had been scammed where he filed a complaint at the Kenyan Mission in Switzerland.
The matter was referred to the DCI through the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs where the investigations leading to the arrest of the scammers were commenced.
Such cases have been on the rise amid police operations to tame the trend.
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