11 arrested after test kit advert

Police have arrested 11 people suspected of selling contraband coronavirus testing kits.

The 11 suspects, employees of a clinic in Nairobi, were arrested yesterday after an online notice claiming that the facility sold the testing kits surfaced on social media.

The social media post indicated that each testing kit was retailing at Sh3,000 and that 600 out of a stock of 1,000 had already been sold.

The post also provided a till number through which payment for the kits could be channeled.

Ten of the suspects recorded statements at the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dental Council (KMPDC) offices before being moved to Kilimani Police Station as detectives tried to establish the veracity of the social media post.

The advertisement claimed that all tests for the virus would yield results within 15 minutes and that no specialised training was required to conduct the test.

Furthermore, it claimed that the facility would provide medical care for infected persons. According to KMPDC, the clinic is not licensed to undertake the advertised care.

The raid, led by KMPDC, incorporated officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Kenya Pharmacists and Poisons Board and the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologist Board. [