Four suspects among them a Kenya, Liberian and Cameroonians have been arraigned in court over dubious gold business.
Patroba Odhiambo Tobias, Isaac Forkey Sleyon, Among Ekoume Louis and Bernard Wadja Bangsi Tang were arrested on 28th July 2025 at a house in Gigiri, Nairobi.
The four were presented in court under a miscellaneous application where the police sought orders to detain them for 10 days to conclude investigations.
According to an affidavit by Corporal Maurice Nzia, the police received intelligence report that some individuals were planning to defraud unsuspecting members of public by falsely pretending there were trading in gold business within Kenya.
“Police officers acted swiftly and managed to locate the office where they found the 1st, 2nd,3rd and 4th respondents,” Corporal Nzia said.
The court heard that upon introducing themselves, the officers conducted a search and recovered some exhibits.
It is alleged that the exhibits include respondents’ mobile phones, a gold smelting machine, a gold weighing machine, a letter purported to be issued by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), letters bearing rubber stamps of different companies and KRA customs seals.
The investigator told the court that the respondents could not produce their work permit neither the licence authorizing them to conduct the business of selling gold.
“The recovered exhibits are suspected to have been used by the respondents to defraud unsuspecting members of public of their hard earned money in dubious gold business,” the officer said.
The court heard upon interrogation, Sleyon, Louis and Tang were found to be foreigners of Liberian and Cameroonian nationality and they could not account why they were conducting gold business without the required documents from the Kenyan authority.
In addition, the investigator added that the four respondents are foreigners and pose a flight risk as they do not have a fixed abode.
Corporal Nzia further submitted that investigations are not complete as the DCI is yet to subject the exhibit mobile phones and rubber stamps to forensic analysis.
The investigators also need time to verify the recovered documents and obtain travel history of the 3 foreigners from Department of Immigration.
The court will deliver the ruling on the application on 1st August 2025.