Three suspected gold fraudsters were on Wednesday arraigned at Milimani over their involvement in a Sh65 million gold scandal.
Patrick Ngare, Kelvin Mwaura Ngotho, and Muke Wa Mansoni Didier, who hails from The Congo, were nabbed on Wednesday for allegedly hoodwinking Iranian national, Sadegh Sadeghan, by promising him 60 kilograms of the precious yellow metal.
Police say the suspects first pocketed a deposit of USD 50,000 from Sadegh via a certain Sadiki Etonga, who purported to be the vendor of the shimmering resource with an understanding that the balance of USD450,000 was to be remitted later.
Sadegh was then introduced to three companies that were supposed to make the transaction a reality, according to details released by police.
The said firms were Newline Logistics Limited, steered by a CEO known only as Mark, and his accomplice, Calvin Ngotho (whose real name turned out to be Kelvin Mwaura Ngotho), Oriex International Cargo Freight, and Royal Ultra Vault Limited.
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However, when the agreed-upon date of delivery came and passed with no gold in sight, Sadegh became suspicious and that is when the reality dawned on him that he had been duped.
He immediately reported the matter to the police and narrated the rather peculiar circumstances under which he parted ways with his hard-earned money.
The detectives swung into action, which led to the three ne'er-do-wells' arrest and the recovery of a Steyr pistol, 103 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a firearm certificate, and Sh600,000 in cold, hard cash.
Besides that, a Thermo Scientific precious metal analyzer, motor vehicle plates KDH 317L and KDH 592Q, various cheque books and a substantial amount of cash were also recovered.
The con artists had also produced bogus gold bars made from pulverized padlocks powder, which were seized by the authorities.
Should you have any information that may be useful in this case, do reach out to the DCI via their hotline at FichuakwaDCI 0800 722 203.
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