Nine Arrested in Major Crackdown on Fake ID Syndicate Involving Registration Officers

A multi-agency security operation has exposed a sophisticated syndicate in which rogue registration officials allegedly issued national identity cards and other sensitive government documents to foreign nationals unlawfully.

Detectives from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) arrested nine suspects linked to the illegal scheme and arraigned them at the Kahawa Law Courts. Those charged include five officers from the National Registration Bureau (NRB), two brokers suspected of facilitating the fraud, and two foreign nationals believed to have benefited from or enabled the process.

The NRB officers facing charges are Titus Muasya Nthenge, Judy Kemunto, Festus Bahat Chai, Moses Mogaya, and Ruth Osebe. TOCU detectives arrested them after weeks of surveillance and intelligence-led investigations. Authorities also arraigned brokers Yahya Daudi and Abdikadir Mohamed Dahir, whom police say acted as intermediaries by linking unqualified applicants to compromised officials.

Police further arrested two foreign nationals: Mauris Havyarimana, a Burundian, and Victor Kamanda, a Rwandese citizen.

All nine suspects denied the charges. The court released them on a bond of Sh500,000 each or an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000. However, the court set January 8 as the bond application hearing for the two foreigners after prosecutors opposed their release, arguing they pose a high flight risk.

The arrests followed a raid in Zimmerman, where detectives recovered 19 official stamps from various government agencies, three driving licences bearing different serial numbers but linked to the same individual, Ugandan national identity cards, a Democratic Republic of Congo voter’s card, and other incriminating materials allegedly used in the forgery operation.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said officers are continuing with investigations to dismantle the wider network, arrest additional suspects, and safeguard the integrity of Kenya’s national identification system. Authorities warned that fraudulent documentation poses a serious national security risk by allowing undocumented individuals to enter or exit the country undetected.

The latest arrests come barely a month after a similar crackdown netted 26 suspects in coordinated operations across Embakasi, Kamukunji, Eastleigh, and several government offices in Nairobi. Investigators accused the group of running an elaborate scheme to illegally acquire national identity cards, passports, birth certificates, and alien registration documents.

According to the DCI, suspects in both cases colluded to bypass official procedures, abusing their access to sensitive systems to unlawfully process government documents. During the operations, detectives seized filled and blank ID application forms, fingerprint capture equipment, passports, birth and death certificates, official stamps, and other registration tools – items that should only be held within authorised government offices.

Authorities say the ongoing investigations aim to fully dismantle the criminal networks behind the fraud and restore public confidence in Kenya’s civil registration systems.

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