Police officers drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested 11 people in connection with a gold scam where a buyer was conned of at least Ksh70 million.
In a statement on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, DCI indicated that the 11 persons of interest were being held at Capitol Hill after they were arrested at the Spring Valley estate in Nairobi.
“Detectives from the Nairobi Regional Criminal Investigations Office have dismantled a gold scamming syndicate that has been preying on unsuspecting victims arresting eleven suspects, seizing 350kgs of counterfeit gold,” DCI noted in a statement.
Ministry of Mining
“The arrest follows a report received from a victim who had been defrauded of Ksh70.6 million in a fraudulent gold scheme. Acting on credible intelligence, the detectives trailed the suspects to their hideout in the Spring Valley estate, where they executed a swift arrest.”
While at the house, police revealed that they discovered a haul of fake gold weighing 305kg, along with a weighing machine and an electronic gold tester, commonly known as a tester gun.
During the raid, the sleuths also recovered a dust coat and assorted documents bearing the Ministry of Mining logo, which the suspects are believed to have been using to gain the trust of unsuspecting buyers.
Police revealed that while seven of the arrested individuals were Kenyan nationals, four were from other African nations of Congo and Cameroon.
“The suspects, a multi-national mix of con artists, include seven Kenyans: Allan Zephaniah Onyango, Nicodemus Okoth, Phillip Onyango, Elmad Ochola, Shem Omollo, Edward Leonard Ochieng, and James Jeremiah Akumu, along with two Congolese nationals, Nfundiko Kamira and Lukabaya Mulamba, and two Cameroonian citizens, Ibrahim Nzamgou and Mike Fouapon, have been taken into custody at the Capitol Hill Police Station, where they are undergoing processing pending their arraignment,” DCI said in the statement.
Fake gold scams
The bust comes just months after detectives nabbed a man in connection with scamming a foreign national of Ksh33 million in fake gold.
On December 7, 2024, DCI confirmed the arrest of Steve Okoth Odek alias David Bett over the deal that involved the promise to deliver 500 kgs of gold to a foreign national.
According to the DCI, the victim entered into two separate gold purchase agreements with the person of interest. On February 6, 2024, he was to purchase 500kg of gold and on March 14, 2024, another 580kg with each kilogram priced at USD 40,000, the police said.
“Detectives drawn from the Operations Support Unit have arrested Steve Okoth Odek alias David Bett, for scamming a foreign national a staggering USD 256,000 in a fake gold deal that involved over 500kg of fake gold,” DCI stated.