Nairobi says it has arrested eight suspects who were plotting to defraud two foreigners in a $439 trillion cash-on-transit deal—a baffling figure that is almost 200 times the total value of US dollars in circulation.

By the end of this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the entire world will be worth $105 trillion; and it is also larger than the end of 2022 global dollar reserves, which stood at $12 trillion.

The figure is so huge that the value of the deal exceeds Kenya’s economy, whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $113 billion, with a daily cash flow estimated at Sh3,887 billion.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the ambitious scheme was uncovered by the sleuths of the Operations Support Unit, which targeted a duo from the Netherlands; a country whose GDP is $1,141 billion.

“In the ongoing operation at a warehouse located in Nairobi, several boxes stashed with fake US dollars, suspect Administration Police uniform, military boots, customs reflector jackets among other recoveries were also seized,” the DCI said in its statement.

The DCI spoke of an elaborate plot hatched through the social media communication tool WhatsApp.

“In this orchestrated fraudulent scheme, the foreigners were contacted through a WhatsApp call by a number registered in the name of Canopy Shield Agencies, the caller informing the foreigners that their consignment of 40 packages had been held at the Kenya Customs Warehouse pending duty fee payment amounting to $36,000 (Sh5.5 million),” the statement reads.

According to the DCI figures, the narrative was that there was a cash-on-transit deal involving $439 trillion destined for Dubai from the Central Bank of Togo and facilitated by the two Dutchmen.

Togo’s GDP is estimated at $8 billion, while Dubai’s is estimated at $30.3 billion.

“The caller who posed as a customs officer of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) convinced the Dutch nationals that their first batch of 40 consignments containing $4 billion had arrived in Kenya awaiting clearance for onward freight to Dubai,” the DCI claimed.

The two foreigners are said to have booked a flight to Nairobi to oversee the clearance of the consignment by paying the said duty.

The DCI revealed that security officials had smelled a rat and had started investigations from the moment the two foreigners landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

“Unbeknownst to the suspected fraudsters that detectives had got wind of the ongoing, a contact person in the fraud plot led the two foreigners to a warehouse where the purported consignment was being held,” the DCI said.

DCI added that the other seven suspects joined the team at the scene and began to persuade the two foreigners to part with the $36,000 customs duty due.

“That is when the detectives stormed the premises and cornered all the eight suspects comprising of six males and two females,” the DCI said.

It added that investigations were now underway to fully understand the fraudulent scheme, “with the two foreign nationals also being interviewed to shed more light on the model of their business”.