Kenyan Police Bust Chinese Cyber Spies

Kenyan Police say they have busted a Cyber-Crime ring that consists of 77 Chinese Nationals in the Capital of Nairobi. The Police think that they were involved in hacking and money laundering. The group has been arrested and are in custody while further investigation takes place.

The Foreign Ministry is presently discussing the arrests with Chinese Officials. The Chinese Officials said that they are co-operating with the ongoing investigations. They are checking to determine if the 77 are in fact Chinese and if they are in the country legally.

Apparently the raids and the ensuing arrests were in response to a fire that broke out and caused at least one death. The fire seemed to have been caused by one of the servers that was being operated illegally.

The Kenyan Police discovered that the 77 lived in 'Military-style dormitories' and had possession of communication equipment, telephone headsets, computers, and monitors. Equipment capable of infiltrating the country's communication systems and possibly the banking system.

"The suspects are being interrogated to establish their mission in the country and what they wanted to do with the communication gadgets." - Mr Muhoro

So far the charges against the 77 include - being in the country illegally and operating radio equipment without the required permits. Chinese Officials have expressed their shock over these developments and have promised to send investigators to work with Kenyan authorities.

This story comes at a time when many Chinese companies are investing heavily in Kenya, so they don't want to rock the boat too much. The Kenyan government has many bilateral agreements with China and Chinese nationals have roles in government programs and also in higher education.

It's a simple case of getting caught red-handed and the only real shock to the Chinese is that they were caught! As for sending investigators to co-operate and assist the Kenyans you can bet they'll be arriving with lots of cash!