Mastermind Behind Theft and Sale of New Generation Passports Arrested in Nairobi
A Kenyan man suspected to be the mastermind behind the disappearance of new-generation passports from job recruitment agencies in Nairobi has been arrested.
30-year-old Stephen Obiero was apprehended on Friday by detectives based at the Directorate of Immigration Services.
The arrest of Obiero, who was found in possession of 22 stolen passports, followed a sudden high demand for the new-generation passports.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the passports are sold to West Africans who are in the country illegally at Sh22,000 each, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
“The detectives who had done their homework posed as pidgin speaking West Africans and lured the thug to a matatu along Mfangano street, where the transaction took place,” DCI says in a report.
“Unbeknownst to the thug, he was dealing with multilingual undercover agents speaking a mixture of Yoruba and broken English.”
Once the deal was sealed, Obiero was handcuffed and taken to Nairobi Central police station where he is being detained pending arraignment in court on Monday.
Most of the passports recovered from the suspect belong to young female Kenyans who had deposited them at recruitment agencies for job opportunities in Gulf states. The immigration detectives are currently tracing the owners of the passports.
Comments (11)
Theft is no longer a preserve of our Mountain brothers. Kenya has become an equal opportunity society and we thank our elected leaders for leading the way in this vice.
By the time detectives have had to learn Yoruba that means Kenya has a huge Nigeria problem. Kenyan men need to marry Nigeria women to supply Yoruba speaking manpower to DCI in the way of offspring.
I have to chuckle imagining Ogbiefulu Innocent,gets his "Kenyan passport" under the name Ngure Mathenge,or Samson Ogango,he will have to work on his Kikuyu or luo accent otherwise they would give him away.
Anyway, good job sleuths.I hope you turned down the bribe from Ogbiefulu not because it was not enought,but it was the proper thing to do,inline with efforts in eradicating corruption.
Why isn't Matiang'i canceling stolen passports? Also, citizens should report stolen passports ASAP to stymie hawa fraudsters.
From the story, it looks like the passport owners may not be aware that the same was missing since they had deposited them with employment recruiting agencies. So,this must be an inside job with these stupid agencies. I call them stupid because they have been selling our girls to slave masters of the Middle East.
How come the same DCI could not arrest expired gaidi Kanjwang who was selling Kenyan citizenship to Al Shabaab/Somali pirates,west Africans and Indians?But I congratulate Obiero for proving a Luo can survive without Raila.
Kenya has the second-highest number among African countries behind Nigeria with 209 incarcerated persons in USA. Nov 19, 2019.
KWA NINI?
Imara Daima: How many Kenyans are locked up? I would like to know the number of those convicted on serious stuff not haya mambo ya immigration fraud etc.
Looking on the bright side - at least he saved the girls from going to gulf to get their throats kut for eating or sleeping without permission.
"Good job DCI"
Probably now you can focus on where the EURO BONDS, K DAM FUNDS,COVID FUNDS,NYS FUNDS,FUNDS FOR THE YOUTH and who is behind the KSH 2 BILLIONS stolen daily.
This reminds me of the UN Charter against human trafficking. It's against holding of employee ID/Passport. This enable employees to move-on at free will, without seeking permission from employer. Employer can keep copies, but not originals. Middle East countries are notorious in violating this, but Africans are also catching up.