Samuel Mugo Mugota, the man who was shot in broad daylight in Mirema, Kasarani, on Monday afternoon, not only recruited women to spike revellers’ drinks in clubs, he also recruited unsuspecting young men promising them jobs with the government.
He would tour a remote village and gather about 50 young jobless men and ask them to register new SIM cards, open three accounts at Equity, Cooperative and KCB banks saying that they are needed by Treasury for payments processing.
Once back in the city, he would deposit cash stolen from his victims into these accounts and disappear.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations yesterday unravelled the other side of Mugota. Records paint the picture of a man who loved women and used them to get his wealth from unsuspecting revellers.
From being arrested 30 times in the last 11 years for stupefying and stealing from his victims in clubs with the help of beautiful women, the DCI defines Mugota as a rogue millionaire whose wealth was amassed from swapping ATM and SIM cards stolen from his victims.
“He operated like a mafia criminal organisation, was a multi-millionaire with several real estate properties scattered across the city, a fleet of vehicles and seven wives …” the directorate said.
One of the alleged wives who identifies herself as Mary Meddih Wa Jesu on Facebook, eulogised him a day after news of his death broke.
“The noble man who made me a mother has been killed in cold blood … I don’t know how our son will grow without you but I will keep your legacy through him …May your killer never know peace …” she posted. The post has since been deleted.
According to the DCI, Mugota’s life of crime began in 2011, when he would steal ATM cards in various banks by hanging around ATM machines offering to assist customers who had difficulties, mostly in the evenings.
He would collude with rogue banking officials who would jam the machines once a client inserted their ATM card, then Mugota would approach the client, offering to assist. Detectives said he had a preference for Co-Operative Bank ATMs.
“He would insert the clients’ card then pretend to be facing away and ask the client to key in his password and confirm the balance before withdrawing.
However, since the machines eject the ATM card first, he would get hold of the card as the unsuspecting client waited for the cash,” the DCI said.
In one incident in 2018, at an ATM in Kayole, the DCI said he transferred Sh700,000 in a single transaction through Pesalink from the account of a woman he was assisting.
The woman had walked into the ATM booth to check whether a loan she had applied for had been deposited in her account.
“When she learnt of what had happened, she collapsed and died,” the DCI said.
Mugota would then gradually expand his “business” to stealing from politicians, senior civil servants, pastors and top businessmen with the help of beautiful women, rogue bankers and policemen who would tip him off whenever an ambush was laid for him. He would make more than Sh1 million in a day.
Despite getting charged in almost all the courts in Nairobi and Kiambu, Mugota would reach a deal with the complainant, offering to pay them back, and get back to business.
By the time of his death, he had employed more than 50 beautiful women that he deployed as drinks-spiking agents at various high end entertainment spots on Kiambu road, Ruaka-Kamiti road and Roysambu, all the way to Zimmerman. The joints include Whiskey River, Switch Annex, Oklahoma, Cascada, Red Lion, Aroma and Dragon.
“That has led to broken marriages, left many men admitted in hospitals and others dead from an overdose of a stupefying drug only identified as ‘Tamuu’ supposed to be administered to patients suffering from mental disorders,” the DCI added.
The DCI believes Mugota was killed in a deal gone sour after one of his women-employees sold him out. BY DAILY NATION