The vulture is a patient bird: Juju, graveside tours, Invisible Sheikhs…and Sh100 million red mercury con deal!

Voices in a cave demanded that lawyer Aziz Musa bring ‘a big white towel, three big white candles and two camels-which cost Sh200, 000’

**The sucker punch:** Lawyer Aziz Musa was involved in mercury deal alongside witchdoctors and Invisible Sheikhs who demanded a bag with Sh1.5 million on all four corners. That was Sh6 million! He took the money in American dollars. The Sheikhs were mad with him as he had also reported to work against instructions. He was tortured and fined Sh100, 000!

By Pascal Owade

Contributing Editor/Crime

It was a case of greed, red mercury, juju, graveside tours, camel meat and money hungry ‘Invisible Sheikhs’ in dark caves that led a lawyer to lose Sh20 million.

Aziz Musa Ngare told a stunned Mombasa court how a mganga from Tanzania swindled him his client’s money while chasing a mercury deal worth over Sh100 million.

Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Francis Kyambia listened as Aziz recounted how a simple legal brief involving his friend, two women and a witchdoctor called Mohammed turned into rituals inside caves along Kenyatta Avenue in Mombasa where he fed Invisible Sheikhs with Sh80, 000 camel meat every Thursday.

Lights in the cave were switched off. The bag disappeared but was returned containing Sh105 million-the value of the red mercury

**Dirty rotten scoundrels:** Aziz told the court that the Sheikhs tortured him with electric plugs in pitch darkness while demanding Sh3 million and two Qurans which he did not have.

Entry fee to the caves with sitting slabs and statues was Sh20, 000. Aziz was to enter armed with a glass of water, praying mat and a big bag stashed with Sh300, 000 on all four corners. That was Sh1.2 million. Mohammed prayed and Aziz heard invisible voices which “demanded a big white towel, three big white candles and two camels…which cost Sh200, 000.”

The voices, which Mohammed said were from Invisible Sheikhs, demanded the bag. Lights in the caves were switched off. The bag disappeared but was returned containing Sh105 million-the value of the red mercury. The Invisible Sheikhs promised to help Aziz sell the mercury but he would suffer “great misfortunes and even death to our family if what is said and transpired inside the cave is ever discussed.”

Getting out halfway from fraud is even harder when juju is involved alongside death threats and other dire consequences

**House of Games:** Many Kenyan have fallen prey to witchdoctors from Tanzania. In 2012, Catherine Njeri from Nairobi was conned Sh9 million by Amos Chipeta from Tanzania. Chipeta promised to multiply the money to Sh50 million in three months, and Sh150 million in six months. Chipeta was found guilty of fraud and jailed for three years in 2014. Then there was Anastasia Mutheka. She lost Sh3 million in 2013 to Suleiman Mumenya Murisho after convincing her he had powers to siphon money from bank accounts of dead people! The Sh3 million was even less than the Sh40 million she had been promised after three months!

The bag was then padlocked. Aziz was given its key. He was to open it only when the Invisible Sheikhs secured a buyer for the mercury. More financial windfall was to come if he played ball. That included bringing a second bag containing Sh1.5 million on all four corners. That was Sh6 million!

But Aziz took the money was in American dollars. The Invisible Sheikhs were mad with him as he had also reported to work against instructions. He was tortured and fined Sh100, 000!

Getting out halfway from fraud is even harder when juju is involved alongside death threats and other dire consequences if one back peddled. Like Aziz who trudged in fearful silence but hopeful of a Sh100 million mercury bonanza.

Sarah claimed she had seen a snake in the mercury and was told by elders that only Mohammed could help with cleansing the transaction

**Fear factor:** Aziz was taken to dark caves along Kenyatta Avenue Mombasa (above) but mganga Mohammed and the Invisible Sheikhs are yet to be arrested as Kenyan cops who did not fancy the amusement of venturing into the caves where Aziz was instructed not to deal with anyone else, but Mohammed the witchdoctor.

By the time he was arraigned in court for stealing Sh20 million belonging to his client, Majid Rashid Abdalla, he had suffered financial ruin, physical and mental torture. In fact, it was while recovering after a road accident that he confessed the ordeal to his parents.

Aziz testified that his friend, Boniface Omondi (whom he often gave money to feed the Invisible Sheikhs), introduced him to Sarah from Samburu. She had red mercury in perfume bottles and stored in a house belonging to Mama Grace in Kisauni near Bakarani. “And to verify it was mercury, Grace poured it on a razor blade and it tuned black and Omondi’s blue pen turned red,” he told the court.

Aziz and Omondi travelled and dropped the Sh1.2 million in a grave inside a mosque overlooking the Indian Ocean

**Red for remorse:** Aziz Musa was to act as Sarah’s lawyers considering one gram of red mercury fetched Sh15 million. Eminent psychiatrist Dr Frank Njenga explains that people are defrauded by strangers from ‘presumption of truth,’ which is at the core of “human relations to believe what we are told.” If the person talking has higher powers like pastors and witchdoctors, the easier it is to fall prey as “we are wired to default to the truth.”

Aziz & Associates was to act as Sarah’s lawyers considering one gram of red mercury fetched Sh15 million. Or so Aziz was told. But a buyer was no forthcoming. “Sarah claimed she had seen a snake in the mercury and was told by elders that only Mohammed could help with cleansing the transaction.” Sarah suggested tapping Mohammed to work his magic.

Aziz also began bouncing ritual meetings. He was fined Sh7 million that December

That was when the rubber met the road: Mohammed asked for money to perform rituals-which Aziz bankrolled with his client’s dough.

But instead of a buyer, Aziz found himself in an endless, dizzy cycle of draining financial demands that October, 2015. At one point, the Chief Sheikh in Tanzania summoned Aziz to Bagamoyo where he was to take Sh1.2 million. Aziz and Omondi travelled and dropped the Sh1.2 million in a grave inside a mosque overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Aziz took a Sh500, 000 bank overdraft to appease Mohammed and his money hungry Sheikhs

**Show me a sign, mama:** Covered in heavy red cotton shukas, Aziz and his friend circled the grave reciting pleas of help to the Chief Sheikh who came with other Sheikhs. They performed rituals until lightning struck.

Aziz told the court that the Sheikhs tortured him with electric plugs in pitch darkness while demanding TSh20 million (KSh3 million) and two Qurans which they did not have, but promised to give Mohammed once in Mombasa. But Mohammed demanded a further Sh8.7 million for the Sheikhs in Tanzania.

But Aziz’s partner in the law firm had transferred the money for other uses. Aziz parted with Sh500, 000 from his pockets. He also began bouncing ritual meetings. He was fined Sh7 million that December. He took a Sh500, 000 bank overdraft to appease Mohammed and his money hungry Sheikhs. Then he ran out of money-and was arrested when Abdalla began asking about his Sh20 million. Aziz promised to repay the Sh20 million in installments. The case continues.