DCI reveals identities of 3 Venezuelans arrested at JKIA, lists 10 counties they target
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has come under fire for egregious errors after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed suspicious circumstances that led to the arrest of three Venezuelans at JKIA who were found in possession of election materials.
The trio was identified by the commission as Jose Gregorio Camargo Castellanos, Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia, and Salvador Javier Sosa Suare in a strongly worded statement released on July 24.
On July 21, 2022, Carmago was the first person detained when airport security personnel found suspicious materials in his carry-on luggage.
When the suspect admitted that the critical election material was going to a private business in Nairobi, investigators were even more alarmed and questioned why there wasn’t an official from the electoral agency present.
Following a thorough search, detectives discovered 17 rolls of stickers intended for various voting locations, with an estimated 10,000 of them dispersed throughout ten counties in the Rift Valley and the Mount Kenya region.
The concerned counties, which include Nairobi, are:
- Kiambu
- Nakuru
- Meru
- Machakos
- Murang’a
- Bomet
- Nyeri
- Indra Nithi
- Nyandarua
- Kericho
“The suspect confessed that he was given the materials from Panama by his company M/S Smartmatic International Holding B.V.
“The officers were shocked how a foreigner all the way from Venezuela, Panama, Turkey to Nairobi contracted for a very sensitive and high-level service by supposedly IEBC had nobody waiting for him and in particular to receive the sensitive confidential materials which were supposed to be in secure custody after confirmation and reception by the procuring entity,” read the statement released by the DCI in part.
Police also retrieved personal laptop, a personal monitor, five flash discs, one mobile phone and assorted personal computer accessories.
The detectives became even more concerned when after detaining Carmago, two other Venezuelans (Joel Gustavo Rodriguez Garcia and Salvador Javier Sosa Suarez) came to pick him rather than IEBC officials and this widened the net even further.
According to the statement signed by DCI boss George Kinoti, other IEBC staffers earlier on disowned the three Venezuelans, raising questions on their mission.
“We find the Chairperson. Mr. Wafula Chebukati to be insincere and dishonest by declaring people who have been disowned by his own staff as IEBC personnel. Chebukati’s statement, was well choreographed, planned and strategically crafted to raise an alarm by sensationalizing a false statement to sway the masses who are the public to believe that the police arbitrarily arrested and harassed IEBC personnel.
“It was an attempt aimed at intimidating and blackmailing security agencies and other stakeholders against playing their rightful role,” stated Kinoti.
