The grandson of Lesotho’s Minister for Law and Justice is currently cooling his heels at Athi River Police Station cells after finding himself on the wrong side of the law, and is now fighting for justice to secure his freedom.
A mobile phone, and the trail it left behind, is to blame.
Samuel Ngungi Hlutwa, 22, the grandson of Lesotho’s Minister for Law and Justice Richard Ramoeletsi, found himself in trouble last Friday after detectives launched investigations into a mobile money fraud complaint.
Police officers from the Athi River police station.
Photo credit: Stanley Ngotho | Nation Media Group
The case was reported at Athi River Police Station by a woman who said she had been duped of about Sh60,000 through a mobile money transfer by an unknown caller. The suspect, she told police, had contacted her on phone; moments later, the money in her phone vanished.
Swift investigations by detectives saw the police trace the phone number used to make the call. Records showed that the number was registered to a 30-year-old woman, whom investigators believe to be Mr Hlutwa’s friend. The woman, police say, has since gone underground and is currently on the run.
But the trail did not end there. Using the phone’s IMEI number, detectives established that the handset had since changed hands and was now being used by Mr Hlutwa. It was this discovery that led to his arrest and detention at Athi River Police Station.
The Nation has established that Mr Hlutwa holds dual citizenship. His father is a Kenyan who settled in Lesotho, where he married a Sotho woman. Mr Hlutwa was born in Lesotho but later travelled to Kenya in 2022 to pursue an aviation course.
When the Nation first received information about the case, it was unclear whether Mr Hlutwa had been arrested or had gone missing. Calls to various police departments, including the Diplomatic Police Unit and Athi River Sub-County Police Commander David Kandie, yielded the same response that they had not received any such report.
After making several calls, it emerged that Mr Hlutwa had indeed been arrested, but had been booked as a Kenyan national.
Police officers who handled the booking recorded him as a Kenyan Kikuyu male, and not as a foreigner. As a result, tracing him as a non-Kenyan suspect proved difficult, even as inquiries about a “missing foreigner” continued to stream in.
Police records indicate that Mr Hlutwa was arrested on suspicion of colluding with the second suspect, who remains at large. Investigators say this formed the basis for his continued detention.
On Monday, January 19, 2026, Mr Hlutwa was presented before a court where police filed a miscellaneous application seeking to hold him in custody for seven days. The court granted the request.
Ironically, as the young man stood in the dock, Mr Kandie was at the same time receiving multiple calls from concerned parties seeking information about “a foreigner who had gone missing last Friday, January 16,” and whether he could be held at the station.
“It wasn't until today (Tuesday) when two people, a woman from Ruiru and a man from Gatundu North, identified themselves as an aunt and uncle to Samuel Ngungi, who was arrested in Ruiru and booked at Athi River Police Station,” he said.
“When he was booked, the boy did not identify himself as a foreigner, but just as Samuel Ngungi, he did not have an ID card or passport. On Monday, he was taken to court at 8 am, charged with obtaining by false pretence and conspiracy to commit a felony,” he said.
With the court ordering his remand until next Monday, Mr Kandie said police will have to wait until the next court appearance to present new facts, including the suspect’s nationality.
“We will be directed by the court on the next steps regarding this matter. We are also curious to understand why the young man did not want to reveal his nationality when he was arrested,” he said.
The Nation learnt of allegations of extortion, with the Sotho minister claiming there were demands from police officers for money to secure his grandson’s release.
