Police recover Sh19m fake cash from Gigiri house, arrest couple

The money, which was in US dollars, was recovered from a suitcase in the house where DCI officers had gone to arrest the couple linked to the theft of Sh11 million from a foreigner. [iStockphoto]

Police in Nairobi have arrested a man and his wife and also recovered fake money amounting to Sh19 million from a house in Gigiri estate. 

The money, which was in US dollars, was recovered from a suitcase in the house where DCI officers had gone to arrest the couple linked to the theft of Sh11 million from a foreigner.

Officers from the DCI Serious Crime Unit raided the house on Friday evening after a businesswoman complained to the police that she had been conned of her money in yet another suspicious diamond exporting racket.

According to the police, the foreigner was introduced to the couple by a mutual friend. The mutual friend told the complainant that the couple had established a successful business in exporting of diamond abroad.

The complainant was then asked to invest her money in the business.

DCI chief George Kinoti said on Twitter that the complainant had paid the millions of shillings to the suspects as part of her initial investment into the business.

Police said the complainant had been tricked into the deal and made to pay the cash which was to cater for her license from the ministry of Mining. Part of the money was also to be used to pay custom duty and clearance fees for the diamonds before she (the complainant) could be allowed to start exporting the precious stones.

After paying the money, the Gigiri couple went quiet and even switched off their phones until the DCI Serious Crime Unit investigators flushed them out of their house.