Police probe Principal Secretary’s 'cloned' SIM card in Sh7m fraud puzzle

By  Kamore Maina

Correspondent

Nation Media Group

Police are investigating a man they now believe cloned a SIM card registered to a Principal Secretary (PS) before using it to defraud a businessman of Sh7 million.

Mohammed Abdullahi, in his complaint to police, said that last month he received a call from someone claiming to be the PS.

While Mr Abdullahi did not disclose the nature of the transaction discussed with the man on the call, he said that a fee of Sh7 million was agreed.

Nairobi Regional Commander Issa Mohammed on Thursday said that the matter is under investigation, and that the suspect is out on bail.

“Investigations are still under active investigation. He has been granted Sh50,000 police cash bail pending conclusion of the investigations,” Mr Mohammed said.

The man claiming to be the PS allegedly said he would send a personal assistant to collect the money from Mr Abdullahi.

On September 30, Mr Abdullahi met an individual who claimed to be the PS’s personal assistant outside a government building in Nairobi city centre. The businessman told police that he bought the story, as the man had walked out of the government building where the PS is based.

The two walked to a bank branch along Moi Avenue, and the businessman withdrew Sh7 million and handed it to the purported PS before they parted ways.

A week later, Mr Abdullahi once again received a call from the man claiming to be the PS, this time asking for an additional Sh5 million, which would once again exchange hands in the same fashion as on September 30.

Mr Abdullahi, in his complaint, said that he got suspicious while at a banking hall in preparation for the withdrawal of the Sh5 million and decided to call the man who had initially introduced himself as the PS.

The call was not picked up, and Mr Abdullahi decided to involve the police, starting with officers who were guarding the bank. Those officers referred him to the Parliament Police Station, where the trader filed a complaint.

The matter is now being handled by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which took over investigations from Parliament Police Station.

Initial investigations show that the PS’s SIM card was cloned, leading to the arrest of the individual who allegedly posed as a personal assistant of the PS while collecting the initial Sh7 million.

The DCI had yet to record a statement from the PS at the time of going to press, as he is said to be abroad. We cannot name the suspect and the Principal Secretary at this stage for legal reasons, as the investigations are continuing.

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