Prominent farmer drugged, loses Sh800,000 in Naivasha

Drink spiking at clubs and bars is on the rise in Naivasha town after a pause brought about by tough Covid-19 restrictions.

And it’s not just happening to ‘naive’ revelers as there have been cases of wealthy business people falling victim to young and beautiful criminals. They appear sophisticated and irresistible, but deep down they are dangerous.

A prominent Narok wheat farmer lost Sh800,000 to the polished criminals a fortnight ago after a night out with a bevy of beauties.

“He had just sold his wheat and decided to come to Naivasha and make merry. Unfortunately, he was easily spotted by the scheming women and ended up losing the hefty cash,” a detective told the Nation, adding that the victim is yet to recover from the incident.

At least four other people, among them a prominent Nakuru businessman, have lost cash to the girls. Tech-savvy, police are now on a wild goose chase for the suspects. Some of their victims end up in hospital due to the effects of the drugs.

Locked up in a lodging

Last weekend, a family came searching for their kin who was drugged and spent the entire day locked up in a lodging. They stole Sh20,000 and left him sprawled in bed. 

Within hours, another victim had lost Sh287,000 in a similar pattern. He gave out his PIN number, which the women used to withdraw a cash via mobile money transactions. 

Interestingly, the criminals wired the money to the mobile phone number of another victim, before withdrawing the cash in a bid to mislead detectives.

“It was a clever plan to throw the investigation off the radar. It was made to look like the victims were stealing from each other, which wasn’t the case,” said the detective.

Crucial leads on the suspects

They stole Sh57,000 and Sh50,000 in what appeared to be a field day for them. All the victims were led to dingy guest houses. The police have so far traced most of the criminals to Githurai 44 in Nairobi, but they are yet to make arrests.

“We are following up on crucial leads and we hope to round them up soon,” said an investigator.

Naivasha Sub-County police commander, Mr Samuel Waweru, has called for caution among those patronising popular clubs to “avoid sharing their personal identification number with strangers”.

“Why should someone share his PIN number with a person he has just met?” he posed.

Meanwhile, the victims are still agonising about their unintended losses as the tricksters roam, scheming about their next move.

[email protected]