Four college students have been nabbed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for allegedly selling Kenya Certificate of Secondary Schools Examinations (KCSE) to candidates in the country.
In a statement by DCI, the four are alleged to be in connection with a criminal syndicate allegedly responsible for examination malpractice in the ongoing national exams.
Police say the main suspect Kibet Tanui alias Evans Kipruto of Baringo Technical College led detectives to his three accomplices after his arrest on March 15.
At the time of his arrest, he was caught distributing English and Chemistry exams to students at Silibwet and Sitoito secondary schools in Molo, through a Whatsapp group with approximately 70 members.
“The suspect who was dishing out examination papers at a paltry Ksh500 per paper was also discovered to be a member of two fraudulent examination Telegram groups with over 17,000 followers,” the DCI statement read in part.
“The IT student whose Mpesa account had over Ksh10,000 at the time of his arrest was also operating a separate KCB account at Kabarnet branch, where he immediately transferred the received cash from his Mpesa to avoid reversals,” the statement further read.
He is said to have been using a sim card registered under one Evans Kiprono while doing his transactions in a bid to conceal his identity.
Tanui’s arrest led the detectives to Kevin Kiprotich Langat, a bachelor of arts student in Swahili, at Rongo University, who was arrested on Thursday.
He is said to have been in constant communication with Tanui having forwarded him the English paper prior to its commencing date.
“It is at Rongo University where a wider syndicate of the examination fraudsters existed, in a Telegram group dubbed the ‘Kale Group’ created under the name ‘Bailing Out’ among other groups,” the DCI added.
Similar to Tanui, Langat led the sleuths to another suspect a political science major at the same institution identified as Justice Leting.
Leting was allegedly distributing Kiswahili exams and was preparing answers for a Chemistry practical paper during his arrest.
The detectives would later go through his phone the DCI similarly found the entire KCSE exams on the mobile device.
“Relentless efforts by detectives have also unearthed that the syndicate also operates a till number account at Ecobank, where candidates are being asked to deposit Ksh 5,000 per paper, or a discounted rate of Ksh20,000 for the whole examination,” the DCI added.
More culprits are yet to be arrested but the four are currently held in Nandi Hills awaiting to face the law.
