A renowned serial land fraudster believed to be part of a dreaded well-organized land-grabbing cartel that targets elderly white residents in posh Nairobi suburbs was arrested at the DCI Mazingira Complex premises.
Jackson Mwangi Wambui and his accomplice Elijah Macharia, were arrested after showing up at the Land Fraud Investigations Unit (LFIU) offices to influence an investigating officer (IO) to go slow on a case in which they are accused of attempting to grab a 0.2026 hectares parcel of land at Thome V area.
In the daring bribery attempt to the country’s highest criminal investigations agency, all Jackson Mwangi sought from the investigator was a two-month delay in the ongoing investigations, within which he would have obtained a “fake original” documentation of the land.
Unbeknownst to the suspects, their names have for years been on the Unit’s radar of the most notorious land fraudsters in the country, police said.
In this case, a team led by Jackson had in December 2022 been thrown out of the land in question which is located behind Roasters Hotel, after they were found erecting a perimeter wall under his (Jackson) supervision.
At the time, according to police, the case of attempted grabbing had been reported to the LFIU by yet another interested grabber, who melted away as soon as investigations gained momentum.
After acquiring the proper documents of the parcel, detectives found out that the land belonged to a deceased Kenyan whose wife and two children were being threatened by Jackson’s ring after they reported the matter at Kasarani Police Station.
Within the period, Jackson was (and still is) battling a similar case of grabbing involving a parcel of land at Runda.
Asked to produce proof of ownership of the land, the Jacksons vanished until recently when they requested to have a sitting with the IO.
Suspecting that they were up to no good, the IO asked them to meet him at his office within DCI Headquarters, to which they agreed, police said.
Once in the office, they pleaded with him to halt the investigation process as they had found a way of acquiring fake documents, but they needed January and February to wind up the process.
“You can then take us to court any time in March. We will know how to handle it there,” they said.
For the favor, Macharia placed Sh200,000 on the table as a tip to the officer, all this time unaware that the office they had been ushered into had mounted cameras that recorded all the ongoings.
DCI Operations detectives moved in and whisked them away with the exhibits for processing and arraignment.
Friday, the case file bearing the appropriate charges was forwarded to the ODPP in Kiambu for directions to have the suspects appear in court.
The ODPP directed the IO to release the two on Sh200,000 cash bail to allow the office enough time to peruse the file.
Preliminary criminal analysis conducted by the DCI Online and Digital Platforms Unit reveals numerous cases of land fraud implicating Jackson’s cartel, including the attempted grabbing of Mr. Richard Hooper’s Karen home on January 18, 2023, where he personated to be the Deputy OCS Karen Police Station.
The case is pending at Ngong Law Courts.
The same syndicate has also featured in land-grabbing documentaries, including the Uncensored Africa documentary “Title Deals” where scores cry foul play after purchasing land parcels only to be fenced off by such cartels as Jackson’s.
Police say there are dozens of new complaints of land grabbing in the country.
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