How DCI Nabbed Man Accused of Issuing Fake Yellow Fever Certificates to Travellers

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested a suspect accused of issuing fake yellow fever certificates and other fake vaccination cards.
In a social media statement on Wednesday, the DCI claimed that detectives from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) had arrested the 28-year-old in the Claywork area of Kasarani.
The suspect had beenlinked to yellow fever certificatesissued to six Somali nationals who were being smuggled through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
On August 8, airport authorities recovered the forged certificates from the foreigners, who were being smuggled to Libya through Egypt.
Following undisclosed credible leads, the detectives descended on the suspect’s residence in Kasarani, where more damning evidence of the forgery was discovered.
A thorough search of the house incriminated the suspect further as a forger of international travel documents based on what was recovered, including a collection of fake stamps from Port Health Services for Wilson Airport and a counterfeit seal of a Port Health officer for Wilson Airport.
Other stamps recovered were for a popular private hospital chain in the country, and another one bearing an inscription of his name with the title Doctor.
Stamps fraudulently bearing the inscription “Injectable Polio Vaccine” and “Stamaril Pasteur” were also recovered from the residence.
Further sealing his fate, 274 blank International Certificates of Vaccination and 91 single-dose vaccination cards were found.
Upon his arrest, he was arraigned at the Kahawa Law Courts on August 20 for custodial orders, but the session was reportedly adjourned after his lawyer failed to log in to the virtual proceedings on time.
He is currently being remanded at the Muthaiga Police Station, awaiting the next mention, which is set for Thursday, August 21.
In 2019, the then Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariukiraised an alarm over rogue health workerswho had been issuing fake yellow fever cards to travellers who were unable to differentiate them from the real ones.
To curb the vice, which exposes the country to serious health risks, she claimed that the ministry would make the service highly subsidised to eliminate monetary incentive.
Currently, a yellow fever certificate costs between Ksh2,500 to Ksh5,000, depending on the facility where it is issued, with public facilities being cheaper than private ones.