Kenya: No, Photos On Facebook Don't Show Kenyan Vendor Arrested With Millions

17 February 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Grace Gichuhi

No, photos on Facebook don't show Kenyan vendor arrested with millions

IN SHORT: It has been widely claimed on Facebook that a market trader north of Nairobi, Kenya was arrested by detectives, who confiscated millions of shillings from him. But there is no evidence such an arrest took place.

It has been widely claimed on Facebook that a potato seller at Kikuyu market in Kiambu county, northwest of Kenya's capital Nairobi, was arrested at his stall by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers.

According to the posts, officers allegedly confiscated millions of shillings from an "Oscar Maina". The posts say that the cash was initially suspected to be counterfeit but was later confirmed as genuine.

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The DCI is a unit of Kenya's national police that investigates serious crimes.

The posts further claim that the man said he made the money from selling potatoes and betting. Similar versions of this claim have circulated on Facebook for some time, often illustrated by other photos allegedly showing the arrest.

The two photos most widely reposted show uniformed security officers escorting a man and lifting or restraining a man onto the back of a vehicle loaded with vegetables, as a crowd looks on.

Similar claims have also been posted here and here. (Note: See more examples at the end of this report.)

But what is the story behind these photos? We checked.

Misleading photos

The DCI regularly posts about its major arrests and investigations on its official X and Facebook pages. We found no mention of any alleged arrest of a trader or anything matching this story.

A Google reverse image search of the image of the man in handcuffs led us to a video uploaded to YouTube on 27 January 2026. The viral image appears to be a screenshot from the video. It showed the arrest of four students after a fire at Matungulu boys secondary school in Kangundo, Machakos county, on the eastern outskirts of Nairobi.

A second photo of a man being pushed onto the back of a vehicle shows visible distortion around the ears. This is a common characteristic of images generated using artificial intelligence tools.

There is no credible evidence that a market trader was arrested by DCI officers in Kiambu county, Kenya.

Similar posts have been published here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. X @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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