A businessman has been accused of conning a senior Administrative Police officer of Ksh24.3 million.
The businessman, Ray Ochieng, is accused of obtaining Ksh24.3 million from the police officer while pretending to sell him four items worth Ksh128 million for Ksh36 million.
Ochieng is accused of having committed the crime against Abdirahaman Ali Dima on diverse dates between December 17, 2021, and January 4, 2023, with the items of trade being a rupee, a stove, a beacon and an iron box.
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The suspect, who has been charged in court, faces other charges of fraud where he is accused of conning the police officer's friend Ibrahim Isaack Musa of Ksh7,136,000.
Mr Dima was ured into the trap in 2021 when he served as the head of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) in Central Region.
Ochieng is said to have lied to the police officer that the four items were from Germany and could earn him Ksh128 million if sold to dealers.
According to reports, the rupee and beacon were worth Ksh2 million and he paid Ksh700,000 for the items, alongside three other persons who allegedly paid Ksh500,000 each.
One of the suspects took the items and purported to store them at Karen, with the 'buyers' being asked to pay Ksh3.1 million storage fees before the dealer came to buy the items.
Later, Dima was asked to raise Ksh3.7 million before the owner of the items released them.
The suspects, led by Ochieng who posed as the expert, told the officer that Ksh10 million was needed for the dealer to accept buying the items. Dima involved his friend Musa who brought in an additional Sh3 million.
The scheme continued until January 2023, when Dima and his friend had allegedly been defrauded Ksh31. 5 million.
The police officer runs out of cash
After the two friends ran out of cash, the suspects stopped picking calls prompting Dima and his friend to report the case at Buruburu police station on January 8. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) took over the case and started investigations.
One of the suspects, Abdoul Said Homoud, was arrested and charged in court on February 2 but denied the charges. He was released on a bond of Ksh15 million with two Kenyan sureties of a similar amount.
Otieno was arrested in Buruburu on May 6 and arraigned before Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia where he denied the charges against him.
