This archive report was first published on 6 January 2022.
On January 3, 2022, four men were arrested in Nairobi for allegedly trespassing on land belonging to President Uhuru Kenyatta in the upscale Karen neighborhood.
The suspects, Mohamed Muhammud, James Opere, Jonah Tuuko, and Samakin Lesingiran, appeared before Principal Magistrate Jane Kamau at the Milimani courts in Nairobi, where they were accused of planning to grab the land located along Windy Ridge.
According to the prosecution, the four men trespassed the property and started searching for beacons to sell the parcel, allegedly using fake title deeds to claim the land.
State prosecutor Fredrick Kimathi told the court, "They were arrested by officers from Karen Police Station and after interrogation, there is reasonable suspicion that they are in possession of a forged title which they are using to lure unsuspecting members of the public to buy the land."
Defence lawyer Danstan Omari, representing two of the suspects, claimed that they were wrongly arrested and that they were just walking along the road next to the land.
Prosecutor Kimathi asked the court to hold the suspects to allow police to conclude investigations, as investigators are closing in on other suspects who might be behind the alleged scheme to grab the land.
