Detectives confiscated a batch of fake gold bars from a Swissport transit freight station’s strong room at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The phony gold bars hidden in 31 boxes obtained from Uganda had been stored at the airport by shady merchants involved in the lucrative gold trade under the guise of goods awaiting passage to various locations across the world.
To evade detection by police, the phony traders used Swissport freight to hold their false consignments because it provides ground and cargo handling services in key airports across the world.
The con artists have been inviting naive investors to inspect the gold at the customs offices at JKIA, the region’s favorite international aviation gateway, in a cunning gold scam that has seen businesses from all over the world lose hundreds of millions of shillings.
A potential buyer is enticed to Swissport’s strong room, where what appear to be genuine gold bars are displayed, once they arrive at the airport. The client is informed that the gold would be transported to any place of his choice throughout the world after the transaction is completed.
However, as soon as the buyer is sure that the transaction is legal and pays all fees, including customs and shipping, the transaction is complete.
In one such deal gone sour, a businessman lost over Sh34 million to the tricksters, who immediately went underground after they received the payments.
In a well coordinated and orchestrated scheme that detectives have been monitoring closely, the fraudsters began by acquiring posh premises in high end estates, guarded round the clock by Police Officers.
It is in these upmarket establishments, where they perfected the art of international organized gold scam fraud, by luring unsuspecting genuine investors from across the world to part with millions of money in exchange of fake gold.
Detectives stormed many such premises and spoilt their party. The creative criminals thought they were smarter than detectives and acquired bank safe deposit boxes as their next safe haven.
They exploited the services of custody of private memorabilia & treasure banking and started depositing fake gold in banks.
Investors armed with genuine bank documents, were herded to the same banks to confirm the gold deposits and parted with millions in exchange with the fake gold.
In an operation led by the DCI Director in March 2019, detectives had stormed a prominent international bank with tentacles across major world capitals, and discovered dozens of fake gold deposits, that had been shown to many traders who fell victim to the scheme.
Following the collapse of this gimmick, the fraudsters have now reinvented themselves, and creatively devised a seemingly smart way of luring investors to airports, to be shown the gold.
Detectives have uncovered that the multi-million shilling conspiracy, is executed with the assistance of various agencies, including some government institutions.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is cautioning anyone within or outside the country intending to venture in gold business, to be on the lookout not to fall prey to these amoebic fraudsters, who keep changing tactics and mode of operation.
