Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are investigating an incident where a Chinese businesswoman was duped into buying sand thinking it was tantalum minerals.
The businesswoman paid Kshs151 million for one container of tantalum minerals which was shipped to China and on arrival it was discovered that it was just soil.
She was also set to receive two other containers of the same kind that were shipped from Congo, through the Mombasa port. They had also been paid for.
Detectives however intercepted the containers at the Mombasa container terminal as they were about to be shipped to the Asian country. After a lengthy struggled to open them, they found metallic drums inside filled with sand.
At first, detectives had linked the containers to a fake gold scam syndicate that operated in Kilimani, Nairobi, using Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and had now shifted their operations to Mombasa, colluding with rogue Kenya Port Authority and Kenya Revenue Authority officials.
A suspect linked to the fake tantalum mineral scam,has been identified as Lumumba Patrick and is said to be collaborating with fake gold scammers in Congo and Uganda.
Detectives have also taken the sand samples for further investigations
