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!
