Three people suspected to be part of a group defrauding land owners in eldoret have been arraigned in court after being arrested by detectives from the Land Fraud Investigations Unit (LFIU).

According to the DCI detectives, Paul Kirwa Samoei, Julius Kipkosgei Ruto, and Tamar Cheptoo Birgen were arraigned following comprehensive investigations after they used a forged Title Deed to apply to the court, thereby obtaining an eviction order used to evict genuine landowners on October 7, 2022.

The fraudsters managed to defraud four victims of over 20 acres of land in Uasin Gishu County.

"Investigation were initiated following a letter from the affected landowners at the DCI headquarters on January 31, 2024. The letter requested an inquiry into the suspicious acquisition of a title deed on their land, which was registered as PIONEER/NGERIA BLOCK 1(EATEC)/1980. However, the genuine victims claimed to have purchased the same land from East African Tanning Extract Company Limited (EATEC) in 2001."

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"Painstaking investigations revealed that the Ministry of Lands did not issue the title deed used by the fraudsters. Furthermore, the title deed was not printed by Government Printers, and no records of its issuance were found in the land registry presentation book."

According to an expert, the signatures and stamps used by the fraudsters were forged. The suspects pleaded not guilty and were released on a ksh500,000 bond, awaiting a pretrial has scheduled for July 22, 2024