Authorities in Mombasa county arrested a Tanzanian national who was posing as a disabled mother to beg money from unsuspecting Kenyans in the streets of the coastal city.
The County inspectorate Deputy Director in charge of operations, Ibrahim Basafar, said his officers acted on a tip-off from members of the public who reported a suspicious group of foreigners around Makadara in Mombasa.
The officers nabbed a 23-year-old Tanzanian national and discovered that the children she was caught with were ‘rented’ from Kenyan parents.
“Our officers have been investigating this syndicate of con artists from Tanzania. We even have a court case against one suspect who traffics them to Mombasa,” Basafar said.
According to the county officer, the con woman makes between Ksh15,000 t0 Ksh 20,000 per day and pays the mother to the child Ksh3,000.
Basafar warned parents against renting their children and urged well-wishers to spend money on genuine and urgent cases.
“We have people at Coast General Hospital who can’t afford medication. They are in pain. These are the people we need to help and not these con men,” Basafar said.
The Tanzanian woman was charged with two accounts of obtaining money by false pretense and another of being in the country illegally.
She pleaded guilty before Senior Resident Magistrate Rita Amwai and was sentenced to 1 yr in prison for the charge of obtaining money by false pretense or part with a fine of Ksh50,000.
On the second count of being in Kenya illegally, Judge Amwai gave repatriation orders after fulfillment of the first judgement.
