TANZANIANS IN KENYA FAKE GOLD SCAM

Some of the items and fake gold seized by DCI in a house in Kileleshwa in Nairobi on May 13, 2019. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU.

By The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam

Two Tanzanians are among several suspects arrested in Kenya in a crackdown on a syndicate of fake gold dealers who have conned victims of billions of shillings.

The Tanzanians were arrested last month in Nairobi alongside four Kenyans, a Congolese and a Nigerian as authorities intensified the hunt for fake gold swindlers.

The latest burst on the syndicate, on Monday, netted suspects who caused a near diplomatic tiff between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, after swindling Sh5.5 billion from a man close to the UAE’s royal family.

The Media in Kenya reported yesterday that President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an operation on the gold scammers after the ruler of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, complained to him that his gold had been seized at the main airport in Nairobi (JKIA).

Sheikh Maktoum’s business associate Ali Zandi who runs a gold trading company in Dubai reported that their gold consignment from DR Congo had been detained at JKIA.

“Each time he spoke to President Kenyatta he raised the gold issue and when the President checked there was nothing like that. He was very pissed off and ordered security agencies to find those involved in conning Sheikh,” the Star newspaper quoted a State House source familiar with the events as saying.

Source: NMG