Detectives yesterday afternoon busted a racketeering syndicate that has obtained hundreds of millions of shillings from unsuspecting jobseekers, on the pretext that the jobseekers would be offered job opportunities.
The syndicate operated by one Grace Nyamohanga, alias ‘Nasra’ (Pictured below wearing a sleeveless top) who is a Senior Sergeant at Lang’ata Women Prison, has so far swindled jobseekers over Sh200 Million, in 10 months.
The rogue prison warder operates a mafia organization that recruits helpless jobseekers, with the promise of job opportunities in top government parastatals & government security agencies including,Kenya Defence Forces, National Intelligence Service & the National Police Service
Among the dozens of fake offer letters in our possession that were seized from her house, the suspects have recruited jobseekers from across all levels of education and academic disciplines including graduates in Mathematics, Computer Science and Microbiology among others.
One such victim who was duped and fell for the trap hook, line and sinker, is a woman from Kiambu county who was swindled over Sh 800,000 with the promise that her three children would be offered job opportunities at the National Hospital Insurance Fund, Nairobi Metropolitan Services and the Kenya Ports Authority.She was also offered appointment letters inviting her respective children to the said institutions,to take up positions that had allegedly fallen vacant.
However, she became jittery on the authenticity of the appointments when the suspect called twice to postpone the reporting dates, citing COVID 19 restrictions. This prompted her to report the matter to detectives.
In January this year, the suspects had in a well coordinated and orchestrated plot, recruited over 60 jobseekers who were offered forged letters of appointment, inviting them to join the Kenya Airports Authority.
The victims, who each parted with colossal sums of money ranging from Sh300,000 to Sh400,000 depending on one’s level of education, were even driven to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, ostensibly to familiarize themselves with what would be their new work environment.
They were also adressed by a suspect who posed as the Human Resource Manager. Later, they were driven to a high-end facility overlooking the Nairobi National Park, along Mombasa road, where they were treated to a sumptuous meal. Afterwards, they were asked to go home and report on March 18th. That was last time the victims heard from the phoney thugs.
Further investigations reveal that the suspect has been working in cahoots with fellow Prison Warders who lure desperate jobseekers into the trap, obtain money from them and remit the same to Nasra. One such warder collected a total of Sh19 Million while another warder who is a driver collected over Sh5.7 Million.
Dejected victims have since been trooping to our headquarters, to file reports detailing how they unbelievably fell for the tricksters machinations.
Meanwhile, detectives have also broadened their scope of investigations, to establish the suspect’s link to money laundering, after fake U.S dollars amounting to Sh2.4 Million were also recovered from her house, at the Industrial Area G.K Prison staff quarters. Two suspects have since been arrested while the main suspect Kenya Prison’s Senior Sergeant Grace Nyamohanga alias ‘Nasra’ is still at large.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations invites Kenyans who submitted their academic documents, birth certificates, identification cards and other documents to the fraudsters, to present themselves at the DCI headquarters, Serious Crimes Unit and file their reports.
