Four suspects are behind bars for allegations of being behind high level of cheating in the on going national secondary school exams, KCSE 2021.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) said the four KCSE 2021 examination fraud suspects were arrested following intelligence reports of sale of examination papers to candidates.
The DCI said the arrests were led by detectives attached to the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) who launched a manhunt for the suspects a week ago.
Gideon Kibet Tanui alias Evans Kipruto, an Information Technology student at Baringo Technical College, was labeled as the main suspect.
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Detectives picked him from his hideout, a rented room next to the college on March 15, 2022 at around 10:30am.
A report by DCI said that at the time of arrest, Kibet was administering English paper 2 and Chemistry paper 1, to students of Silibwet and Sitoito secondary schools in Molo, Via his what’s app group with a following of 70 members.
“The suspect who was dishing out examination papers at a paltry Sh500 per paper, was also discovered to be a member of two fraudulent examination Telegram groups with over 17,000 followers,” read a statement by DCI.
The IT student had over Sh10,000 in his M-Pesa account and was also operating a separate account at KCB bank, Kabarnet branch, where he immediately transferred the received cash from his M-Pesa.
It was also revealed that the sim card he was using was registered under the name Evans Kiprono to conceal his identity.
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Kibet also led detectives to the arrest of Kevin Kiprotich Langat, a Bachelor of Arts student in Swahili, at Rongo University. He was arrested on Thursday.
“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 said.
Langat then led detectives to yet another suspect, a first year Political Science and Swahili student, Justice Leting.
The DCI report said Leting was found in the process of distributing a Kiswahili paper and preparing answers for the Chemistry practical paper.
In Leting’s WhatsApp forum, a candid interaction between him and a student named Bett was retrieved, where Leting assured him that all was well and that the answers he had provided were legit since he was a ‘star’ in Swahili, during his time.
“Nilipata one hour to, nikaunda answers,” Leting assured the candidate.
“Niliunda legitly, nilikuwanga star kwa Kiswahili,” he added.
Shockingly, Leting’s mobile phone had the entire KCSE examination material which was recovered by the detectives.
He revealed to have been working with other students at Rongo University who are still being pursued.
The KCSE 2021 cheating syndicate is said to comprise a web of fraudsters in school heads, security agents, parents and college students, in some parts of the country.
This comes as 42 students from Dibuoro students were arrested over involvement in the KCSE 2021 cheating Friday.
Another 63 KCSE 2021 students were arrested at Kakuma Refugee camp of the same cheating allegations.
The DCI however said they were pursuing another suspect who operates a till number account at Ecobank, where candidates are being asked to deposit Sh5,000 per paper, or a discounted rate of Sh20,000 for the whole examination.
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