A flamboyant Nairobi based pastor-cum-politician is on the radar of detectives after he was adversely implicated in a cross-border gold smuggling syndicate operating within the East and Central Africa region.
The pastor in question who by the time of going to press had not responded to our queries has expressed interest to run for a parliamentary seat in Nairobi.
He alongside Joao Carlos Ramalho Ferreira, a Portuguese national of passport number CB459223 who was arrested over alleged flopped attempt to smuggle 100 kilograms of gold worth Sh620million through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) are believed to be partners.
The group is suspected to have links with Hungarian based conduit network in the illicit trade.
According to ongoing probe by the detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the illegal gold consignment was destined to Budapest, Hungary.
The over half a billion worth of precious metal was moved to Uganda after attempts to ship it through Jkia flopped.
It is believed to have been ferried from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Detectives are keen to establish the between the pastor and Ferreira, aged 67-year-old economist based in Hungary which investigators believe spans for a period of time but has since been strained leading to a fallout between the two.
“The two seem to have known each other for a while including helping him to open a company here in the country. Investigations are underway.” A senior detective privy with the investigations told The Informer.
Sources indicate Ferreira has a controversial history who has had close ties with some prominent leaders in Africa.
Reports show he was a football agent in Portugal before he shifted his base to Budapest where he is said to be involved in gold smuggling.
The said gold consignment is believed to have been smuggled from the mineral rich Katanga area in Democratic Republic of Congo in October last year through Burundi, with the help of powerful Congolese military General John Numbi, who is a close ally of Ferreira.
General Numbi has been on the run for close to a year after the authorities called for his prosecution for the murder of human rights activist.
On 14 April last year, General John Numbi was charged with the murder of human rights defender Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and his driver Fidèle Bazana Edadi by the High Military Court, 11 years after the murder.
Bahizire and Edadi disappeared on 1 June 2010, after complying with a summons to meet Numbi at the police headquarters in Kinshasa.
