NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 11 – Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Tuesday intercepted USD15 million in counterfeited currency withing Nairobi’s Pangani estate.
A 29-year-old national arrested at the scene of crime was set to be arraigned in court on Wednesday.
DCI said Yassin Ahmed Osman was arrested following an intelligence brief.
The fake money was stashed in a black back, DCI stated.
“Over 15 million fake US Dollars were early today Seized from a room at Eden House Flats in Pangani Shopping Centre- Nairobi, & a 29-Year-Old suspect; Mr. Yassin Ahmed OSMAN arrested. Acting on intelligence, Detectives stormed the Hse and conducted a search upon which a Black Bag,” the directorate tweeted on Tuesday.
Detectives were said to be pursuing two other suspects believed to be Osman’s accomplices in the fake money printing syndicate.
Police retained the suspect’s phone for data exploitation.
Detectives are also keen to recover the ‘money’ printing equipment.
The Tuesday incident is the recent in what has become a trend with over a dozen recoveries made since March.
In May, millions of fake US dollars were recovered in Kilimani and seven suspects arrested in wat DCI George Kinoti said was an intelligence-driven operation.
The May recovery was the fourth in under twelve months.
In March, detectives had recovered Sh1.2 billion in fake US dollars at the Queensway Barclays Bank branch in Nairobi.
The cash was found in a customer’s safe deposit box by a team of Flying Squad officers who arrested five suspects.
In the month preceding the recovery of the fake currency, detectives recovered 75kgs of fake gold and Sh32 billion in fake bank notes.
In October 2018, police recovered billions of fake cash in foreign currencies inside an apartment located along Brookside drive in Westlands.