A section of Mombasa residents have demanded an explanation on the release of a SIM-swapping suspect without charge.
The suspect identified as Amos Kimtai Koech, 21, was released in unclear circumstances despite pending investigations and cases recorded by victims.
Separate police reports had linked the suspect to fraud amounting to Sh5 million which he cumulatively swindled using different sim cards.
Mohamed Ali Shariff is one of the victims who recorded his case at Makupa Police Station under OB number 10/07/03/2025.
Police investigations indicate that the suspect had registered nine sim cards, one of them having been registered under the name of 52 52-year-old woman who resides in Songoi village Bureti, Kericho County.
Police at Makupa in Mombasa had asked those in Kericho to help arrest the suspect.
Police made a miscellaneous criminal application in court with NCBA Bank, Safaricom and Airtel being respondents.
This enabled the investigators get more information on the fraud.
Police at the station explained the suspect was released pending ongoing investigations.
Police say cases of sim swapping have been dropping due to ongoing operations targeting the gangs behind the same.
The same gang has been linked to an incident where a former Kasarani police commander in Nairobi was swindled of his money in a similar sim swap fraud.
Peter Mwanza, who is in charge of the Kasarani police division, told a court in Milimani on Monday on how he fell victim to the fraud scheme.
He testified before magistrate Mary Mwendwa, narrating on the ordeal that occurred in January 4, 2022, a process he says happened within six hours.
“Within less than six hours Sh597,100 had been transferred from my Equity Bank account to my M-Pesa account and later sent to a number unknown to me and withdrawn in Mulot, Bomet county.”
At around 6:45 PM, he said he received a call from an anonymous number, which he failed to pick. The phone kept on ringing until he was forced to set his phone on flight mode.
At 6:50 he deactivated the flight mode and his phone failed to pick any network, even after waiting for a couple of hours.
“I rechecked at 9pm and still the mobile phone had no network,” Mwanzo stated.
He then visited a Safaricom shop the following day, to establish what might have been at fault with his phone network.
The money was withdrawn from Bomet County by a third party, which was transferred in four quotas.
He sought help from Criminal intelligence Unit and Safaricom when he was told his Sim Card had been swapped.
Mwanzo was testifying against Gideon Mark, a suspect in the case.
