Detectives: It was long hunt for Wazir Benson Chacha

Wazir Benson Chacha being led to Muthaiga Police Station by a detective on Monday after being arrested on extortion allegations. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Wazir Benson Chacha is the man who allegedly extorted money from over five Members of Parliament disguised as one of them.
  • When this was discovered, he allegedly paid Sh648,000 to a Zanzibar hotel, where he intended to live for 10 months.
  • Director of Criminal Investigations, George Kinoti was offering a Sh20,000 award to whoever would volunteer information leading to his Mr Chacha's arrest.
  • When he was arrested on Friday, police found on him two sim cards, the sim card plate for the phone registered under Ms Chege, a phone, several travel documents

The smiles he exhibited were tinged with anxiety which he tried to hide, as he gazed at the Muthaiga Police Station, where he would spend two nights waiting to be presented to court.

It was probably going to be the first time he was being ushered into the cells in the glare of the cameras from almost all media stations in the country. After all, he was now famous.

Beneath Wazir Benson Chacha’s articulate demeanour lies controversies. He is the man who allegedly extorted money from over five Members of Parliament (MPs) disguised as one of them. When this was discovered, he allegedly paid Sh648,000 to a Zanzibar hotel, where he intended to live for 10 months.

The 25-year-old, who has been using the name Jamal Chacha Mwita since he was declared wanted, was arrested at the prestigious PKM Inn in Tarime, located 20 kilometres from the Kenyan border, a day before he could travel to Zanzibar.

OBTAINING MONEY

A day after the Director of Criminal Investigations, George Kinoti, appeared before the National Assembly Security Committee to explain why police had not arrested Mr Chacha for obtaining money from MPs by falsely pretending to be Muranga Woman Rep Sabina Chege, a ‘Wanted’ poster was printed in the newspapers.

Mr Kinoti was offering a Sh20,000 award to whoever would volunteer information leading to his arrest, as he could not be traced. His telephone number and the one he had registered under Ms Chege’s name were all switched off.

The same day the poster was published, Mr Chacha is said to have booked an overnight bus to Migori and then took a taxi to Masaba to the house of former Kehancha Mayor Chacha Masubo who is his father.

“A day before he arrived, police officers had visited the home and, when he was informed, he went to his sister’s house in Kehancha. And this is when he briefly switched on his phone, signalling to the detectives about his whereabouts,” an officer attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said.

DETECTIVES

As detectives sprung their trap on Sunday, March 25, Mr Chacha moved from Kehancha and, by the time detectives traced his sister’s house a day later, he had left.

“We traced the signal again to Isebania but the phone was on only for five minutes. We had an idea that he was going into Tanzania and so we moved there and informed the authorities there,” an officer who helped trace the suspect said.

Luckily for them, they acquired a telephone from a relative who had helped Mr Chacha make a call to Tanzania. The call was made to the PKM Inn.

“We suspected that he was there. It was a really hard task trying to locate this man. We had to interrogate several people to try and locate him. He was very careful not to leave any clue that would help us locate him,” the detective said.

The officers booked a room at the PKM Inn after realising that he was a guest there. They then monitored Mr Chacha’s moves for three days, getting to know his new number, the people he met and the calls he made.

MONEY TRANSFER

“On Thursday, March 29, Mr Chacha received some money through a money transfer company from someone in Dubai and the next morning, he booked a bus from Tarime to Dar es Salaam. He was then to travel to Zanzibar on Sunday,” the officer said, adding that he was booked in a Zanzibar hotel as Jamal Hussein Mwita.

He was arrested on Friday evening and police found on him two sim cards, the sim card plate for the phone registered under Ms Chege, a phone, several travel documents, his Identity Card with the name Waziri Benson Masubo issued in 2016 and a notebook. The ID card indicates that he was born in December 12, 1994 in Masaba.

Police also said that their investigations revealed that Mr Chacha had sent several emails to bloggers, attaching emailed WhatsApp conversations with a number of female MPs. The emails also contain several pictures and videos.

NUDE PICTURES

“The conversations indicate that  he had been communicating with several of them, and he even travelled with some of them to South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Dubai,” an officer said. They also suspect he is the administrator of a page in social platform Telegram, where nude pictures are shared.

Mr Chacha brags having had intimate relationships with 13 female MPs and other women. The Nation has not authoritatively confirmed the authenticity of these claims.

Mr Kinoti told the National Assembly Security Committee that his office  had discovered that the suspect was in a special relationship with some MPs. He, however, did not reveal their names.

He said investigations revealed that the suspect’s ring was wide and his office intended to arrest more people.

The suspect came to the limelight after he shared on the net pictures of him and a former MP alleging that they had been having an affair.