Eight Kenyans were on Wednesday arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) detectives over a Ksh. 439 trillion colossal fraud scheme targeting two Dutch nationals.

The Eight identified as Moses Otieno, Peter Aura, Brian Waweru, John Kalombo, Peter Kisanya, Noah Ouma, Charity Njeri, and Mercy Cheptoo were arrested at a warehouse along Mombasa road where several pallets containing counterfeit United States (US) dollars, suspected stolen jungle fatigues meant for police officers and customs reflector jackets among other items were recovered.

“in this orchestrated fraudulent scheme, the foreigners were contracted through a WhatsApp call by a number registered in the name ‘Canopy Shield Agencies’ by a caller who informed them that their consignment of 40 pallets had been held at the Kenya Customs Warehouse pending duty fee payment of USD 36,000 (Ksh 5.5 million),” the DCI noted in a statement.

The Duo told the police that they had signed a deal with the Central Bank of Togo to transport the Ksh. 439 trillion to Dubai upon receiving a phone call Upon receiving the call, the complainants said that they traveled to Kenya to clear the supposed customs fee and when they arrived, a contact person guided them to the warehouse where the supposed consignment was stored.

“The caller who posed as a customs officer convinced the complainants that the first batch of 40 pallets contained USD 4 billion and that they were being flown through Kenya to facilitate their clearance and smooth entry to Dubai. Unbeknownst to the fraudsters the detectives had got wind of the on-goings. As the eight suspects got busy around the warehouse convincing their targets to part with the USD 36,000, the operations team stormed the premises,” said the DCI.

Further investigations are still underway to find the truth about the business deal.