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‘Notorous suspect’ arrested at JKIA over car importation fraud

By Hilary Kimuyu October 19th, 2020 1 min read

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested who they termed as a notorious fraudster, Patrick Olindo Aswani, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Aswani is accused of fraudulently obtaining money from several unsuspecting citizens in the pretext that he could import vehiclesfor them.

According to DCI, Nairobi Region alone had received several cases where his victims lost millions of shillings with similar cases being reported in other police stations around the country.

“Individuals or Entities that could have fallen victim of his fraudulent activities are requested to get in touch with the Regional Criminal Investigations office, Nairobi (Adjacent to Integrity Center) for assistance,” DCI said.

According to the Car Importers Association of Kenya, about 130,000 used cars are imported annually in Kenya, mostly from Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The vehicles are both for commercial and private use.

Whereas it is a legitimate business to offer importation consultancy services – a middle man handling all the paperwork on behalf of a car buyer- many have fallen victim to schemes by unscrupulous persons.

The arrest comes three weeks after DCI detectives arrested a fraud suspect, identified as Innocent Oundo Sillingi, at JKIA while trying to flee to Dubai.

According to DCI, the suspect was involved in swindling Kenyans of their money amounting to more than Sh10 million.