Police officer, Kenya Airways staff arrested in fake visa racket

By Cyrus Ombati

Nairobi, Kenya: Nine people, including a police officer and a Kenya Airways employee, were arrested on Wednesday night and 29 fake passports, visas and 39 paper seals found on them.

The officer works at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) police unit while the other suspects included two Ethiopians, two Somalis and two Bangladesh nationals.

The KQ employee was said to have been helping the foreigners pass through the airport.

Police involved in the operation said the foreigners were arrested in Ngara, where they had been living, and were headed for Mozambique, South Africa and Angola. They would eventually end up in Europe using the fake papers.

Police also recovered laptops, printers and laminating machines from the house in Ngara.

Police suspect the culprits were arrested after a deal went sour. Some of them had apparently alerted the police of their deals before the operation began at JKIA and in Ngara.

Head of Special Crimes Prevention Unit Noah Katumo said they were looking for an official at the Immigrations Department after he was mentioned in investigations.

“We do not know how many people have managed to pass through the airport using these fake documents but we are trying to establish that. It seems to be a serious cartel,” he said.

The main financier of the cartel, identified as Mohamed Ahmed Abkow, was the first to be arrested at JKIA before he led the officers to the CID officer, KQ staff and other suspects in Ngara.

The arrests come in the wake of increased terror threats, amid claims terrorists were increasingly using fake identification documents to access some areas while planning to attack.

The Immigrations Department has been in the spotlight in recent months over corruption allegations after a security audit carried out revealed massive fraud in the issuing of identification documents to foreigners, with people paying as little as Sh40,000 for the crucial papers.

The audit, which was carried out after the Westgate Mall attack, revealed the deals involved top officials and said these were the loopholes Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab exploited to send killers to Kenya through the refugee camps.

The documents included visas, birth certificates, work permits and ID cards.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku then announced the sacking of 15 senior officials at Nyayo House, JKIA, Wilson Airport and the Nakuru office as part of efforts to address the problem.