A con man who plastered tomato sauce to a bandage to fake a back injury and receive alms in Nairobi’s streets has been arrested, a Kenyan newspaper said on Tuesday.
Gibson Ngige was arrested on Sunday and frogmarched to Nairobi’s railway police station along with two accomplices, who have been collecting about 1 500 shillings begging for money to pay for medical treatment.
More than 56% of Kenyans live on less than one dollar a day.
Ngige covered his ”wounded” back with a bandage oozing something that appeared to be blood but was, in fact, tomato sauce.
He rarely spoke, communicating with passers-by through a strategically-placed poster.
”Please help, I was involved in a road accident,” the poster read.
After a long day of begging, Ngige would spend the windfall drinking and entertaining prostitutes, The Nation added.
When he was arrested, the con man told police he had a sexually transmitted disease, the paper said.
Ngige will be charged in court for lying to the public, police said. – Sapa-AFP