Detectives have allowed an Eldoret court to detain two suspects linked to conning unsuspecting job seekers over fake overseas job placement.
The duo, Mary Ann Wanjiru Mungai and Margaret Wanjiku Stephene were Friday arrested at their agency office in Eldoret town after a complaint was raised by another agency based in Nairobi, accusing them of forging their documents.
The arrests happened in the backdrop of cases of agencies conning students and job seekers yearning to study abroad, as well as the Uasin Gishu overseas students airlift scandal.
While making an application to detain the respondents, investigating officer, police constable Cyrus Oriosa told the court that the suspects were also linked to similar cases in other towns.
Mr Oriosa told Eldoret Chief Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan that the complaint against the two was reported at Eldoret Central Police station by a proprietor of a Nairobi-based company whose documents were allegedly forged by the respondents.
“I am investigating the offense of impersonation, forgery of documents contrary to Section 384 of Penal Code and obtaining money by pretense in violation Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code,” Mr Orioso said in his affidavit.
The investigating officer told the court that the complainant -Mary Mary Nyokabi Gicheru reported to the station that she has been receiving several complaints through mobile telephone calls from people who alleged that they have paid money for processing of visa and traveling documents to her agency, Kerry Gold Agency in Eldoret.
Detectives told the court that upon investigations, they established the respondents were in charge of the fake Eldoret-based agency that has been conning young Kenyans yearning for overseas jobs and studies.
In his application to detain the suspects for 14 days, the investigating officer told the court that he was yet to record statements from complainants and that the suspects are a flight risk and they were likely to interfere with investigations if released on bond.
The investigating officer also told the court that police are yet to arrest other suspects believed to be working in cohorts with the respondents.
“I believe there are other suspects yet to be arrested and the respondents in our custody will help us arrest their accomplices after recording their statements,” the investigating officer told the court.
The respondents did not object to an application to be detained. They told the court that they are okay with their detention.
“We are not objecting to the application by the police to be detained at the station for 14 days,” they told the court when they were asked to comment on the application by the investigating officer.
In March this year, the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare was told about how at least 8,000 youths from Uasin Gishu were allegedly conned between Sh 40,400 and 150,000 each by a consultancy firm that claimed it would help them secure jobs abroad.
Appearing before the Senate’s Labour and Social Welfare Committee, the youths narrated how First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency gave them false hopes of a bright future.
A report by the Ad Hoc Committee of the County Assembly, which investigated the matter confirmed that the Recruitment Agency had advertised the jobs on social media and road-shows, and later during its mega launch that took place on 20th May 2021 in Eldoret in an event that was graced by prominent leaders.
Most of them had applied for a six months’ contract job in Qatar to work during the FIFA world cup 2022.
The report revealed that efforts by successful applicants to be cleared to travel by the Agency hit a dead end since the agency disowned the complainants.