IRENE ONYANGO.
A Nairobi court will tomorrow decide whether six suspects including a man accused of swallowing a memory card in a bid to conceal evidence will be detained for one month to allow police complete investigations.
The suspects are being probed over claims of forging title deeds.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations asked the court for the suspects to be held for 30 days.
The six are Benedict Mwangangi Ngala, Joel Kakuli Mwangangi, Vincent Boaz Owang,Titus Wambui Kithuki, Sylverster Mwanzia Mwanthi and Erick Omondi Ojwang.
The court heard that during the arrest Kakuli swallowed a memory card and was later escorted to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Anti-Narcotics Unit to assist in the retrieval of the card but it was not successful.
“The Police is therefore seeking for Ex-parte orders from the Court to be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Kenyatta National Hospital (the 7th Respondent) for the Medical facility practitioners to assist Kakuli and the DCI in recovering the memory card for forensic analysis by the Investigative Officers,” the prosecution said.
The DCI told the court that the six are being investigated into allegations of conspiracy to defraud, forgery of official documents, forging stamps, making false documents and obtaining registration by false pretence among other charges.
According to investigating officer, the court granted the police a search warrant dated 1st August which led them to arrest Mwangangi and Kakuli at Anpemu House, Ngara road while printing a forged title deed for Mweiga/Block 5/Muthuini Parcel No. 543.
Detectives further told duty court magistrate Benard Ochoi that they recovered 3 assorted flash discs, assorted certificates of leases, assorted rubber stamps, 10 stamp pads, 5mobile phones, 1 usable and 1 faulty printers make hp and 1 Xerox phaser 7775 colour printer, assorted printed letters of allotments and letters of allotment.
The police also retrieved printing papers, 1 monitor screen make Hp compac, 2 computer central processing units make hp, 1 paper guillotine cutter, assorted certificate of title printing papers, imprinted goat skin among other things.
“Your honour, during the above search in Umoja 1 (one) Estate along Moi Drive in the house of Kakuli, more documents were found,” the investigating officer said.
According to the officer, some of the recovered letters of allotments have names of persons which are not for or do not belong to the six suspects and also bear land reference and plot numbers which will require time for the police to verify or trace the registered owners through the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning.
Additionally, the police told the court that the recovered stamps bear imprinted names of Land Registrars, Administrators, Surveyors, Advocates, City Council yet none of the respondents is known to bear such designations or working with such entities hence the investigating team will require to reach out to verify their authenticity and originality and for further forensic examinations.
The suspects are alleged to have defrauded so many unsuspecting investors of cash and properties in land purchase and sales in a wide scheme of conspiracy.
The police suspect that the syndicate involves directly or indirectly government officers in the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning hence require more days for verification.
