Victims of Sh500m overseas jobs scam in Eldoret arrest suspect

 

Victims of a jobs scam in Eldoret

Victims of an overseas jobs scam in Eldoret last night camped at the home of a key suspect where they staged a citizen arrest and handed him to the police.

The suspect who runs jobs recruitment firm in the city had been on the run amid complaints that he had defrauded job seekers in the region more than Sh500 million promising to take them for jobs abroad.

Some of the victims including several women who paid money to the recruitment firm camped at the home of the suspect at Pioneer Estate after learning that he was in the house with his family.

They were accompanied by private security officers who helped them apprehend the suspect.

Also present was human rights crusader, Kimutai Kurui.

They waited at the gate for the man to get out but he did not until early Sunday when the suspect learned that there were people at his gate.

The man attempted to escape by cutting grills leading to his neighbour’s house.

One of the victims, Virginia Kibe, said they followed the suspect as he tried to escape and arrested him.

“He has coned us a lot of money but police had told us that they were unable to arrest him and that is why we decided to stage a citizens arrest so that no one tells us he can not be found,” Kibe said.

Another victim, Mzee Abel Chumba, said he had paid more than Sh450,000 to the man who promised to seek jobs for his two sons in Turkey and Australia.

The residents took the suspect to the Eldoret Central police station where he is locked up.

Kurui accused the police in the area of dragging their feet in dealing with those who had conned residents millions of shillings on the false pretex that they would secure jobs and study opportunities for their children abroad.

“This man has just been around but police kept on saying he could not be traced and that is why we wanted to prove them wrong by handing over the suspect after staging the citizens arrest,” Kurui said.

He said Eldoret had been turned into a city of fraudsters and police were not acting on those involved.

Kirui claimed Eldoret town has more than 50 illegally operating job recruitment agencies yet police were not acting tough on the suspects.

Uasin Gishu County police commander Benjamin Mwanthi, however, said so far, eight suspects have been arrested in the town over complaints of defrauding residents.

BY MATHEWS NDANYI