The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has stepped up its fight against international gold fraud syndicates accused of swindling foreign investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through elaborate fake gold deals.

In the latest development, detectives from the Operations Support Unit (OSU) arrested Michael Otieno Owano, an advocate and proprietor of Otieno M.O. Law Advocates, for his alleged role in a scam that defrauded a Canadian investor of USD 618,000.

The victim was drawn into a sham gold export arrangement involving 250 kilograms of gold, purportedly destined for Dubai aboard a private jet. On April 15, 2025, a Proforma Invoice of USD 318,400 was issued by EAI Logistics, with the payment made to Owano’s law firm account. The investor was later instructed to transfer an additional USDT 300,000 to a cryptocurrency wallet, but no gold was delivered.

Owano’s arrest comes after the earlier capture of Francis Talla Ouafo, also known as Allain, a Cameroonian national identified as the suspected mastermind of the scheme. He was arraigned on July 31, 2025, at the Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court.

In a separate but similar case, Lupemba Lorenzi Olivier, a Congolese national, was charged in connection with a fraudulent gold deal involving a Gabonese investor. Detectives secured a seven-day custodial order to complete investigations, with the matter set for mention on August 13, 2025.

Meanwhile, Kelvin Otieno Onyango, alias Kevo Sonko, alleged to be the director of SwiftTaxis Logistics Ltd, was also arrested over his involvement in the same case. The complainant reportedly met him at his office to negotiate and formalise the deal before transferring USD 140,000 into an escrow account.