Three suspects to phone theft and flashing syndicate arrested in Nairobi CBD
Mobile flashing has been on the rise in most cities and towns in recent years with companies involved in the Buy Now, Pay Later asset financing losing hundreds of millions of shillings
Police in Nairobi have arrested three suspects linked with a mobile phone theft syndicate in the Central Business District (CBD) and surrounding areas and several stolen electronics recovered.
In a statement, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said officers from the Central Police Station engaged in an intelligence-led operation arrested Victor Kimani, a key suspect linked to the syndicate in the CBD while tampering with the IMEI numbers of stolen phones in an attempt to conceal their identity.
“Following a brief interrogation, he led detectives to Intermark Business Centre, where two of his alleged accomplices, Marvine Wangundo and Jeremiah Njoroge, were also apprehended,” it added.
According to the DCI, a subsequent search of the premises yielded 36 Samsung phones, 23 Vivo phones, two Nokia phones, one LG phone, one HMD phone, one Tecno phone, one Motorola phone, six M-Kopa Samsung phones, two M-Kopa Nokia phones and two Vivo motherboards, adding that many of them stripped of their back covers.
Also recovered were two Dell CPUs, two HP Elite CPUs and one desktop computer, among other items.
The suspects are currently in custody as detectives finalise investigations ahead of their arraignment.
Mobile flashing has been on the rise in most cities and towns in recent years with companies involved in the Buy Now, Pay Later asset financing such as M-Kopa and Watu Simu as well as retailers losing hundreds of millions of shillings.
The criminals uses HP laptops, CPUs, hard drives, Pandora Boxes, dongles and JTAG devices to alter IMEI numbers, reprogramme the phones and bypass security features, thus making it impossible for the sellers to track and trace them.
The syndicate involves both buyers who either do not want to continue with their payment plans as well as criminals who steal the phones before selling them to unsuspecting members of the public both in Kenya as well as neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania.
