Eastleigh SIM-swap heist: How suspects used stolen IDs, fake bank accounts to steal Sh3.2m
The suspects were not found with any identification documents belonging to them, and the DCI will be relying on the National Registration Bureau to ascertain their identity.
Three men arrested in connection with an incident where an Eastleigh businessman's mobile phone was stolen before Sh3.2 million was wired out of his bank accounts, allegedly transferred the cash to bank accounts registered using stolen national identity cards.
Other funds were transferred to encrypted M-Pesa accounts that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is waiting for Safaricom Limited to help identify.
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The DCI is looking for individuals who are yet to know that bank accounts registered under their identities, together with SIM cards, are being used in crime.
Three suspects, Peter Kariuki Mathii, Isaac Kanini and David Ng'ang'a Macharia, who are suspected to be behind the crime, have been detained at Pangani Police Station for 10 days by Senior Principal Magistrate Paul Rotich of the Makadara Law Courts.
They are under investigation for computer fraud.
Businessman Adam Hussein lost the money after the incident on April 10, 2025, and Mathii has been identified as the main suspect. Adam's phone was snatched along Racecourse Road as he drove towards Pangani.
The DCI traced Mathii after Adam's bank statements obtained during investigations showed that some of the money had been transferred to the suspect's bank account.
Adam's money was transferred to different banks and M-Pesa accounts in transactions of different amounts on diverse dates after the theft of his mobile phone.
Mathii was arrested by DCI officers in Ruiru alongside Kanini, where they were found inside a car belonging to Kanini.
Corporal Peter Maritim of Starehe DCI offices told the court in an affidavit that two cars, one found at Macharia's residence in Zimmerman, have been recovered and listed as proceeds of crime.
According to Maritim, Kanini was arrested while in a motor vehicle registration number KDN 566L in the company of Macharia and, upon search, police recovered assorted SIM cards, a Safaricom SIM card registration gadget, papers resembling United States dollars and several ATM cards.
"Upon interrogation, (Macharia) led the officers to his purported residence in Zimmerman along Thika Superhighway, where a recovery of assorted SIM cards, various ID cards belonging to unknown people, mobile phones, a laptop, and ATM cards where part of the stolen money was transferred to," stated Maritim.
Upon arrest, Macharia's car was searched and DCI detectives recovered documents bearing various account numbers, mobile phones, papers resembling US Dollars and a Kenya Revenue Authority PIN.
Maritim told the court that the three suspects have yet to record statements and assist in recovering the mobile phone stolen from Adam, an iPhone 16 Promax worth Sh178,000.
The suspects were not found with any identification documents belonging to them, and the DCI will be relying on the National Registration Bureau to ascertain their identity.
The suspects will remain in custody at Pangani Police Station until May 14, when the DCI will update the court on the status of the investigations.
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