Back to Africa Check

Wanted? Kenya’s serious crime agency didn’t issue this alert

“WANTED. KSh200,000 reward,” reads a graphic posted on a Kenyan Facebook page. “The suspect listed here is wanted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.”

The graphic is headed “Directorate of Criminal Investigations” – the DCI, Kenya’s serious crime investigative agency – and has the coat of arms of Kenya’s National Police Service.

It shows a photo of a young man, gives a name, and claims the person is wanted for “distribution of bhang and cocaine” at Kenyatta University and JKUAT, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Bhang is marijuana.

The graphic was posted on 19 June 2020 with the message: “This criminal has wasted many children future by selling them hard drugs in Kenyatta university and JKUAT. Most of those he recruited in his gang some have died some are Rotting in jail.”

But did the DCI issue this wanted poster?



‘We have not sent such an alert’


Africa Check could not find the graphic on the DCI website, its Facebook page or its Twitter account.

We contacted the DCI on Twitter to ask if they had issued the wanted poster.

“We have not sent such an alert,” they said. – Grace Gichuhi




 

Republish our content for free

We believe that everyone needs the facts.

You can republish the text of this article free of charge, both online and in print. However, we ask that you pay attention to these simple guidelines. In a nutshell:

1. Do not include images, as in most cases we do not own the copyright.

2. Please do not edit the article.

3. Make sure you credit "Africa Check" in the byline and don't forget to mention that the article was originally published on africacheck.org.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.