Safaricom to jam mobile phones in prisons

By Cyrus Ombati

Mobile phone service provider Safaricom will install phone-jamming equipment in major prisons to curb rising crime in the institutions.

The equipment will prevent inmates from making calls and M-pesa transactions within prisons.

The move comes in the wake of a rise in crime involving mobile phones most of which originated from prisons.

Investigations reveal that hardcore criminals, most serving life sentences were defrauding Kenyans of thousands of shillings using mobile phones.

According to authorities, 70 percent of fraudsters are located within prison sites.

"Once the prisons fraudsters defraud a customer, they either send the funds to their accomplices outside the prisons or send their fellow inmates to disguise the trail of the money and avoid reversal being done," police said.

Police say a substantial number of Kenyans have fallen victim to the fraudsters targeting M-Pesa users.

Kamiti Maximum Prison leads in fraud incidents with 65 percent of the reported cases in the last four months alone.

Nakuru GK Prison accounted for 15 percent, Meru 12 percent, Shimo La Tewa six percent and Kibos one percent of the total cases reported.

In July alone Kamiti prison accounted for 15,000 incidents that were reported, which was the highest.

In some cases, the criminals impersonate Safaricom staff to trick unsuspecting customers who end up sending money to claim "prizes" won in non-existent promotions.

Safaricom said another tactic used by the gangs is sending of fake M-Pesa messages to customers who are then called and asked to send back "erroneously" transferred funds.

Others pose as desperate friends who needed help after being arrested by police and demanded that they be sent refundable money after promising "a handsome" refund.

Such cases have been on the rise and whenever police pursued them, they found out that the masterminds were in prisons and some of them are condemned criminals.

On Tuesday, Safaricom signed an agreement with the Kenya Prisons Service for the installation of the equipment.

The MoU was signed at the prisons headquarters in Nairobi and presided over by the commissioner of prisons Isaiah Osugo and Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

Collymore said the company would continue to partner with law enforcement agencies to ensure subscribers are protected from mobile phone crime.

"Our aim is to fortify M-Pesa’s position as a safe, fast and convenient means of money transfer and tool for positively transforming lives all over Kenya. Ring-fencing the service from criminal elements is a critical part of this continuous quest," he said.

Osugo said some inmates are becoming sophisticated with the advances in technology and called for sustained support from all stakeholders to address the problem.

As part of addressing the problem of smuggling in the institutions, the department recently acquired 60 more dogs. Osugo said the dogs have been trained to detect contraband such as bhang, mobile phones, cigarettes, money and even weapons.

The canines were assigned to Kamiti, Langata and Industrial Area Remand prisons.