Kenya has deported a Zambian national that police described as a notorious gold scammer who operated an international syndicate of fraudsters in Nairobi.
Mr Bupe Chipando, aka Elena, was deported following his arrest by transnational and organised crimes detectives after he defrauded a Dutch national of over Sh170 million in a fake-gold deal.
Mr Chipando was also previously linked to the printing of counterfeit currency.
Last year, his firm Alinani Precious Metals (APM) had announced plans to build a Sh1 billion gold processing plant on Mombasa Road in Nairobi at a cost of Sh1 billion targeting artisanal miners.
Mr. Chipando who is APM Chief Executive said at the time that the gold refinery project, whose construction was to start in early September, will offer miners the means to extract value from their own mineral wealth rather than just exporting raw commodities
He was ejected some minutes before midnight after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i issued the deportation orders.
This was not the first arrest of fake-gold scammers who had defrauded foreigners.
In January, a Congolese man who had reportedly been on the run for four years was charged with defrauding a Ukrainian and a Japanese national of more than Sh680 million in a fake-gold deal.
The illicit trade is mainly concentrated in Nairobi’s high-end estates.
In a well-coordinated and orchestrated scheme, the fraudsters reside in expensive apartments that are guarded round the clock.
“It is in these upmarket establishments where they perfected the art of international organised gold scam fraud by luring unsuspecting genuine investors from across the world to part with millions of money in exchange for fake gold,” the DCI said in a statement.
In September 2017, the Mining minister gave people involved in the fake gold trade an ultimatum, warning that the government would deal with them ruthlessly.
This is after it emerged that rogue mineral dealers were issuing certificates purportedly issued by the Ministry of Mining to show that their gold, which is mostly fake, had been tested and graded.
The fraud, the ministry said, was being committed by persons with huge quantities of gold available at discounted prices.
Their victims were unsuspecting Kenyans and foreign nationals.
The criminals use false mineral dealers’ licences, export permits and reports purported to have been issued by the ministry.
Other common fraud cases involve demands for hefty upfront payments to facilitate the processing of export documents with relevant authorities, after which no export is done or the consignment turns out to be fake gold.
But the government is yet to follow through and punish the real masterminds, some of them politicians.
These are the so called diasporans who hh wants to contribute to our economy. The only thing these upnd diasporans will bring is crookedness and crimes. Fuseke
Most of the time your comments are a breeding ground of hatred you seem to have too much anger in you are you truely Zambian I doubt.
GOOD JOB, SCAM THE IMPERIALISTS. THEY HAVE BEEN STEALING FROM US FOR TOO LONG!!
In the meantime your former boss ECL has been rocked with a severe case of paranoia. He is twitching thinking he is next at DEC.
You created these sorts of criminals in your criminal PF governments. HH has been in power for only 11 months; this fellow has been operating in Kenya for years. We need to let him be interviewed on TV so that we can hear if he even sounds Zambian. He could be one of the foreigners who have bought Zambian passports from your crooked immigration department.
These scammers are dogs. They deserve one thing. Hire criminals or death squads
to liquidate them or shoot them in day-light. They are just animals.
Kaizar Zulu. At times your mouth carries some truth. You may fit to be a President if you stop
beating women.
Really?…Lord help us!
Thank you comrade
Criminal minds! How peculiar that he should be a Zambian – sounds Nigerian; Zambians don’t tend to do international crime – they steal from fellow Zambians. Disgraceful.
He could even be a foreigner using a fake or dubiously obtained Zambian passport!!
Spaka has finally been caught…kawalala
This man is not a Zambian, he doesn’t look at all like a Zambian. More than likely he is Nigerian.
Probably stole a Zambian’s passport and replaced the photo with his own, et voilà – he’s now Zambian & the Kenyans therefore deport him to Zambia! But, I expect more will come out of this; watch the space!
DID HE DONATE TO PF ?? SEEMS LIKELY
Zambia exports copper and criminals
Can Zambians posting here stop fantasizing? Which Zambian looks like a Zambian? Zambias political borders are not drawn on biology or genetics. Some Europeans decided to make boundaries based on their interests in Africa’s mineral and other resources. Zambians like most African nationals aren’t homogeneous. He doesn’t look like a Zambian is a foolish argument. Start thinking
Look at these f00ls in denial