The Directorate of Criminal Intelligence (DCI) has arrested two land fraudsters believed to be part of an organized cartel that targets rich elderly white residents residing in the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya.
According to the DCI detectives, the land fraudsters were apprehended on December 7, 2023, at the Mazingira Complex premises, where they had gone to plead and bribe the detectives to halt the investigation process into the land grabbing case.
The DCI detectives identified the two fraudsters as Jackson Mwangi Wambui and his accomplice Macharia after seeking out the investigators and negotiating for the case to be delayed for two months as they faked papers to change the land title.
“In a daring bribery attempt, the duo placed KSHS 200,000 on the table and asked that we delay investigations into the land fraud for two months, as they claimed to have found a way of coming up with fake papers for the land,” the DCI detectives said.
They noted that, in December 2022, the fraudsters were found erecting a wall perimeter around a piece of land located behind the Roasters Hotel, where a case of attempted grabbing was reported to the Land Fraud Investigations Unit (LFIU). The detectives added that, at the time, another case had been filed by another fraudster on the same piece of land, which sparked investigations.
“When we asked Wambui to produce documents of the land he was erecting a wall on, he vanished until recently, when they requested a meeting with us,” the detectives added.
The DCI detectives further stated that, following their investigations, they were able to ascertain that the land in question belonged to a deceased Kenyan whose wife and children were being threatened by the duo and are battling a similar case of grabbing involving a parcel of land at Runda.
Preliminary criminal analysis conducted by the DCI Online and Digital Platforms Unit reveals numerous cases of land fraud implicating Jackson’s cartel, including the attempted grabbing of Richard Hooper’s home in January 2023, where he impersonated the Deputy OCS Karen Police Station.
The Kenyan Police say the same syndicate has also featured in land-grabbing documentaries, including the Uncensored Africa documentary “Title Deals,” where scores cry foul play after purchasing land parcels only to be fenced off by such cartels as Wambui.
