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DCI detains man who bought car from woman using bad cheque


The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is holding a man linked to a motor vehicle theft syndicate dealing in car fraud in Nairobi.

Sammy Karinga Mubea is detained at the Industrial Area police station.

Mubea is said to have colluded with another suspect to defraud a woman of her car.

Gladys Njoka had advertised her car online and was contacted by Mubea’s accomplice who expressed “interest”.

After their negotiations on the phone, the suspect agreed to buy the car at Sh590,000 and sent Mubea to confirm the car’s condition.

His account had been credited with the cash

On April 28, Njoka’s son Julius Kimamni received a cheque of Sh 590, 000 drawn by Johan Enterprises.

After receiving an alert that his account had been credited with the cash, he released the car together with the original logbook to Mubea.

In an affidavit filed at Makadara law courts, Corporal Joseph Kitaka of Makadara DCI offices said the cheque bounced and Mubea and his accomplice switched off their phones and efforts to trace them together with the motor vehicle have proven futile.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that the respondent [Mubea] is a member of a huge cartel where unsuspecting members of the public have fallen prey and have lost their property through such fraudulent dealings,” Kitaka stated.

“The respondent might be wanted by other DCI and police stations in connection to similar offences might have been reported to those stations, hence we need time for circulation.”

Kitaka said the suspect is needed to aid in apprehending his accomplices through call data records which shall be obtained from mobile phone services providers.

The detective said more time is needed to recover the bounced cheque from ABSA bank Yaya branch.

“We also need to contact the registrar of companies to ascertain the existence of the mentioned Johans Enterprises.” Mubea was remanded for seven days.