Court prevents deportation of 10 foreigners charged with cyber-crime

High Court Judge Stella Mutuko has ordered that eight Taiwanese and two Chinese nationals who were set for deportation be taken to Kilimani Police Station.

The Judge ruled that the foreigners were in Kenya legally at the time of their arrest and their visas expired while in prison.

Justice Mutuko said that they had the right to be in the country and they are to leave at their pleasure after renewing their visas.

Meanwhile, Steve Isunta – the lawyer representing  37 other  foreign detainees – has filed an application for their release saying that the suspects were being held illegally in prison as they were acquitted of cyber crime allegations.

He noted that the continued detention of the foreigners was illegal as they had been given 21 days to depart the country or legalize their stay.

The 37 were acquitted last week over lack of sufficient evidence.

In December 2014, police arrested 76 Chinese and one Thai national on suspicion of running a cyber-crime center in Nairobi’s Runda estate.

Officers believed that the foreigners were planning to hack the country’s communication systems.

Equipment capable of infiltrating bank accounts, Kenya’s M-Pesa mobile banking system and cash machines were also discovered after a series of raids.

The arrests was sparked by a fire at a home in Nairobi in which one person died.

Police investigating the cause of the fire attributed it to a faulty server and a number of raids then took place on upmarket houses rented by the Chinese nationals.

Police said many of those detained appeared to have been in the country illegally.