Thief

Police in Nairobi have arrested a man who attempted to transfer land files from the lands office.

Lawrence Ngigi who was found with four new empty deed files, was arrested after he tried to pay a bribe of 2000 shillings to wardens at the entrance of Ardhi House in Nairobi to be allowed to leave with the files.

Police also confiscated the files and the bribe money.

"We suspect that the files were to be used to issue fake land documents which would be used to con innocent members of the public," said Mr. Nelson Namisi, a senior Security Officer at Ardhi House.

Ngigi who first attempted to resist inspection claimed he had been given the files by a visitor at the ministry whom he however failed to identify.

Namisi said Ngigi who is a private surveyor was also found with three Identity Cards all bearing his name and photograph.

"He could not explain the circumstances under which he acquired the IDs," Namisi said.

Deed files are used to store Title deeds.

Namisi said only employees in the Lands Registry were allowed to handle Deed files.

The registry superintendent F.M. Wanyonyi said no files were supposed to leave the department without his authorization.

Cases of people being conned by being issued with fake land documents have been on the increase in the country.

"We have been dealing with numerous cases of forged land documents," said a police officer at Kilimani Police Station where Ngige is being held.

Meanwhile the Ministry is putting up stringent measures to prevent such malpractices including computerization of records which will prevent loss of files.