CS Owalo 'impersonator' to be held for three days

Calvince Odhiambo at the Milimani court on Monday. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

A man accused of impersonating Information CS Eliud Owalo using a Facebook account has been detained for three days to allow the police more time to complete investigations.

Detectives, under a miscellaneous application, had requested the court to grant them another four days to detain Calvince Otieno Odhiambo before officially charging him.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Bernard Ochoi allowed the police to hold the suspect. The suspect was arrested in Rongo, Migori county, on Thursday last week before he was brought to Nairobi, booked at Kilimani Police Station and later arraigned before Ochoi.

The investigating officer, Sergeant Rinos Musungu from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said the suspect created a Facebook account and posed as CS Owalo. The officer said Odhiambo did so with ill motives.

Musungu told the court the said Facebook account was active between December 6 last year and January 5. The court heard that the Facebook page was noticed by Dr Barrack Muluka, the communication advisor in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Digital Economy.

Muluka shared the information with Owalo, who reported the matter to the police and the suspect was arrested. Musungu said Odhiambo was found using a mobile phone with an airtel line registered in the name of one Anjilina Achola Odede when he was arrested. The said Odede is said to have been born in 1939 in Homa Bay county.

The suspect was also found with six mobile phones and several Safaricom and Airtel sim cards, the police said. The CS, who is the complaint in the case, is yet to record his statement. The case continues on Thursday.

Musungu said one of the phones Odhiambo was found with had a message that read: "We can discuss employment, business, women, men and youth empowerment ...."