Eight Kenyans, including two politicians, were detained on February 4 in a phony gold fraud with two firearms and 470 rounds of ammunition.
The eight accused were joined by two foreign nationals during the arrest.
The two politicians ran unsuccessfully for parliamentary seats in the general elections on August 9, 2022, and they are both from the county of Migori.
One of the politicians campaigned for office under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), while his partner ran as an independent.
The two were detained in Nairobi despite coming from the Karachuonyo and Suna districts of the Migori county, according to a statement from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
When the DCI closed in on them, the two were hiding in Nairobi’s Kitusuru and Kilimani estates.
The DCI discovered one of the politicians in Kitusuru with a Baretta Pistol loaded with 13 rounds of ammo, while the other politician’s weapon and ammunition were discovered following a thorough search of their offices and the locations of their cronies.
DCI disclosed that a Gilboa rifle that was lost and is thought to have been used by the lawmaker is suspected of firing a 5.56mm round.
The pair is also accused of scamming an American citizen of Ksh67 million with a fake gold scheme in addition to the assault rifles.
DCI investigators disclosed that they had gathered enough information from the suspects to bring legal charges against them.
“We thoroughly searched the suspect’s offices and found evidence that, in our opinion, was used to scam unwary investors.
Three laptops, a checkbook from a nearby bank, a briefcase full of metal detector instruments, currency counters, a rubber stamp bearing the inscription Bukule Tereno Advocates Kinshasa, and other metal rods are among them, according to a statement from the DCI.
The officers went on to say that they were able to save an innocent Indian citizen who was being conned out of about Ksh25 million.
