Investors have been warned to be cautious when buying public land within Athi River district to avoid losing money to corn men from the region.
Speaking to this reporter on the phone on Sunday, Mavoko Deputy County Commissioner, Makori Kodeck said there were culprits who target unsuspecting investors across the nation to lure them into purchasing public land.
"Investors should be warned against these conmen who sell public land belonging to the government, they should do proper investigations and follow due legal procedures to avoid being corned," said Kodeck.
Kodeck said the culprits take advantage of the fact that majority of local and foreign investors are moved to the region due to availability of large tracks of prime land thereby defrauding them.
"A lot of people keep on buying these parcels of land and interesting enough do not report if corned, I advise them not to buy to avoid losing their money," said Kodeck.
The commissioner said most of the mobilization to sell public land were done in Mlolongo town by re-known land brokers with powerful links to authorities at both county and national governments levels.
He said those intending to buy land within the district should get in touch with relevant offices such as chiefs to identify and get details of the land they wish to buy to avoid being corned.
Kodeck said some corn-men sell land as cheap as Shs. 20,000 per 50 by 100 plot as introductory price with others charging Kshs. 800,000 for the same size of land in some areas.
"The people buying such land should take a little more precaution since most of those who claim to be land owners in the region do not own even an inch of land, they are crooks," said Kodeck.
He said public land is vulnerable to grabbers though warned that it is dangerous for an individual to invest on it since it could be repossessed by the government anytime it wants to implement a project on it.
"These land will be required even 20 or 30 years from now, people should learn from what happened in Syiokimau and those who owned investments on road reserves during implementation of by-passes projects," said Kodeck.