Seven suspects were arrested by investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) as they were in the middle of a transactional meeting to defraud two Malaysian nationals in a gold scam.

They were on the eve of a 500-kilogram gold bar fraud scheme.

Frustrated and shaken, Halid Mohamed Yaacob and Zulkannaain bin Ramali arrived in Kenya from Kuala Lumpur on Monday, following an invitation from Rock Africa Mining, which is run by the suspects, who include six Kenyans and one Congolese citizen who is on bond.

PHOTO | COURTESY gold scam

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The suspects include Didier Muke, Brian Otiende, Patrick Otieno, Mark Kabete, Ken Kiboi, Joshua Ngandi, and Charles Vincent Njerenga.

They had built up an operations base in a house in Kileleshwa, with fully equipped office-style rooms to steal from unsuspecting foreign nationals, in a well-choreographed plot.

Yacoob and Ramali were scheduled to meet with the seven this morning to finalize the first shipment of 50 kg refined gold, with each kilogram costing Ksh.7.2 million.

The 500-kilogram gold, worth Ksh.2.85 billion, was to be obtained from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



A few minutes into the meeting, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations foiled a phony gold operation worth billions of shillings.

 The suspects had hired a G4S security team to keep a vigil at the main door, and as they engaged the Malaysians, the G4S guards were among those arrested by DCI officials and scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.

This latest ring of fake gold plan to defraud the two Malaysians joins a long history of similar occurrences in which foreign citizens are duped.