Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested two suspects linked to separate land fraud cases involving forged title deeds and illegal property transfers in Mlolongo and Nairobi’s Westlands area.
The arrests were carried out by officers from the DCI’s Land Fraud Investigations Unit, which has been investigating criminal groups accused of using fake documents to illegally acquire and sell land.
In the first case, detectives arrested a suspect believed to be part of a syndicate that allegedly attempted to illegally subdivide and sell land in Mlolongo using forged ownership documents.
According to investigators, the case came to light after the registered owner reported that unknown individuals were in possession of what appeared to be fake title deeds connected to her property and were planning to sell the land without her consent.
According to detectives, investigations established that there was an alleged fraud scheme that involved the use of false transfer documents and forged land ownership titles that facilitated the deal.
The case files were then passed over to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and an approval for the prosecution of the suspect and his accomplices, three in total and currently on the run, was obtained.
Separately, another suspect was arrested following the allegedly fraudulent transfer of the piece of land located in Westlands. This happened when the legitimate owners informed authorities about their land being transferred to another party using fake documents.
The DCI said that after verifying the fraudulent transfer through their investigation efforts, they passed the matter onto the prosecutors for appropriate action.
According to authorities, the suspects went into hiding after the allegations were leveled against them; therefore, Milimani Law Courts issued them with summons and then warrants of arrest thereafter.
One of the suspects has finally been found and is currently under arrest at Utawala after he was arrested following the launch of a police manhunt order from the courts in April.
The arrests are among ongoing operations targeting land fraud syndicate and as part of a sustained campaign against the fraudsters who still manage to defraud unsuspecting landowners through forgeries of their title deeds and other documentation.
The latest arrest comes several months after another arrest was made by detectives in relation to an ongoing case of a suspected Ksh50 million fraud case involving forgery of land registry documents.
