Police in Madogo, Tana River County, have arrested a woman and her accomplice packing sand to sell as wheat flour.
Fatuma Issa was arrested after a trader reported to police that she had sold him seven bales of sand packaged in packets of a local flour brand.
According to a police report, Kelvin Edward had sent Ms Issa Sh11,900 for the flour, only to find out later that the packets were full of sand.
“My customers brought it to my attention a few hours after I sold them what I thought was flour, I had to open the other packets and that is when I realised I had been cheated,” said Mr Edward.
Would run when alerted
He noted that he chose not to raise the matter with the seller for fear that she would run when alerted.
Also duped were two other traders who had already bought 15 bales of the branded sand.
The police went in search of Ms Issa, who had since moved to a rented house in Adele, 1.5 kilometres from Madogo town, where she continued her fraudulent activities.
After hours of searching, Ms Issa was arrested at the rented house while packing sand to take to market.
Her accomplice Tony Mokaya was also arrested and 240 packets of sand packed in the branded packets were recovered.
The two are being held at Madogo Police Station and will appear in court on Tuesday.