Suspects linked to Sh2b fake currency freed on cash bail

Some of the suspects arrested allegedly with Sh2 billion fake currency at Barclays Bank Queensway branch in Nairobi on March 19. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Eric Adede and four other suspects arrested over the Sh2 billion fake currency seized at Barclays Bank, Queensway Branch in Nairobi have been freed on bail.

The court on Tuesday released Eric Adede on Sh1 million bail while the other suspects were freed on Sh200,000 bail.

Adede was arrested alongside Ahmed Shah, Elizabeth Muthoni, and Irene Wairimu Kimani.

In just four months, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has impounded about Sh40 billion of fake money.

In February, police seized fake currency amounting to Sh32.6 billion and 70 kilos of fake gold in a house linked to seven suspects accused of impersonating President Uhuru Kenyatta. Earlier in January, police found fake Sh6.6 million Kenyan currency and chemicals used to make the money, in a house in the Shanzu area of Mombasa.

In another raid on October 1, 2018, police in Nairobi recovered fake Sh1 billion cash, with three suspects being nabbed. The money was found in a house along Brookside Drive at Brookside Gardens in Westland.

Two days later on October 3, a Nigerian was arrested in South B in an operation that netted fake US dollar bills for $251,400 (about Sh25.3 million). Earlier in June 2018, the High Court in Nairobi sentenced a Niger and Cameroonian national to 10 years in jail for possession of an estimated Sh110 billion in counterfeit currency.

The detectives had recovered fake $693,100,000 (Sh71,004,282,950) and 369,600,000 euros (Sh41,246,450,628.77) in suitcases.

Two suspects were also arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in October 2016 with fake Sh267 million euro notes in 500 bills on their way to Dubai.