Detectives based at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi confiscated over Ksh100 million from a Nigerian national.
Mauzu Bala was arrested Friday, December 4, in possession of USD 880,000(Ksh 98,128,800), 60,000 Euros (Ksh 8,111,282), and 63,000 Naira (Ksh 18,426).
The suspect was flying from Nigeria to Dubai with the money packed inside a suitcase. The Nigerian had disembarked from Kenya Airways flight KQ535 from Lagos and was intercepted at the transit lounges, heading to catch flight KQ310 to UAE.
When asked why he was carrying such a huge amount, Bala said he was heading to Dubai for business.
The High Court on Wednesday ordered that the money be deposited at the Central Bank of Kenya pending investigations into alleged money laundering.
According to DCI Transnational Organized Crime Detectives (TOCU), the seized cash is believed to be from International Criminal Cartels.
TOCU are working with the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) which sought court orders to freeze the cash citing the suspect’s failure to disclose that he was carrying such a huge amount of money and produce documents supporting the legitimacy of the cash.
“The threshold for requiring the declaration was not complied as the respondent did not disclose the source of the cash, the business he was doing and the basis of moving with cash of that magnitude.
“There are reasonable grounds to suspect the funds found in possession of the respondents in cash may be a direct or indirect benefit or proceeds of crime obtained from a complex money-laundering scheme and are liable to be forfeited to the state under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2009,” Fedrick Musyoki, a police investigator attached to ARA, said in an affidavit.
