Eldoret:DCI officers detain suspects behind fake overseas jobs!
-The suspects, Mary Ann Wanjiru Mungai and Margret Wanjiku Stephen
were apprehended on Friday-
Police detectives from the directorate of criminal investigations
department have been allowed by an Eldoret court to detain two
suspects connected to a fake overseas job placement agency that has
been conning hundreds of unsuspecting job seekers in Uasin Gishu
County.
The suspects, Mary Ann Wanjiru Mungai and Margret Wanjiku Stephen
were apprehended on Friday by the sleuths at their agency office in
Eldoret town after a complaint was raised by another agency based in
Nairobi accusing them of forging their documents..
While making an application to detain the respondents,investigating
officer ,police constable Cyrus Oriosa told the court that the
suspects were also linked to similar cases in other major towns in
Rift Valley, Nairobi and Nyanza.
Oriosa told Eldoret chief Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan that the complaint
against the two was reported at Eldoret Central Police station by a
proprietor of a Nairobi based company whose documents were allegedly
forged by the respondents.
“I am investigating the offence of impersonation, forgery of documents
contrary to section384 of penal code and obtaining money by false
pretence in violation section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code,” Mr
Orioso told through his sworn affidavit.
The investigating officer told the court that the complainant
Mary Nyokabi Gicheru reported to the station that she has been
receiving several complainants through mobile telephone calling from
people who alleged that they have paid money for processing of visa
and travelling documents to her agency,Kerry Gold Agency in Eldoret.
Detectives told the court that upon investigations they established
the respondents were in-charge of the fake Eldoret based agency that
has been conning young Kenyans yearning for overseas jobs and studies.
In his application to detain the suspects for 14 days, the
investigating officer told the court that he was yet to record
statements from complainants,the suspects are flight risk and they
were likely to interfere with investigations if released on bond.
The investigating officer further told the court that police are yet
to arrest other suspects believed to be working in cohort with the
respondents.
“I believe there are other suspects yet to be arrested and the
respondents in our custody will help us arrest other suspects after
recording their statements,”the investigating officer told the court.
The respondent did not object to an application to be detained.
They told the court that they are okay with their detention.
“We are not objecting to the application by police to be detained at
the station for 14 days,” they told the court when they were asked to
comment on the application by the investigating officer.
In March this year the Senate committee on Labour and Social Welfare
was told how at least 8,000 youths from Uasin Gishu were allegedly
conned between Sh 40,400 and 150,000 each by a consultancy firm that
claimed it would help them secure jobs abroad.
Appearing before the Senate’s Labour and Social Welfare Committee, the
youths narrated how the First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency
gave them false hopes of a bright future.