Mathare Phone Technician Faces Trial Over Alleged M-Kopa Lock Bypass as High Court Dismisses Petition

A phone repair technician in Nairobi is in court for being accused of using some sort of high-end electronic kit to break into M-Kopa’s security system so he could keep credit financed phones alive even after their owners had stopped paying the instalments.

What Investigators Think Went Down

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) reckon Benjamin Okello is behind the alteration of 26 M-Kopa phones without permission. Forensic people found that 365 phones had gone through some kind of flashing tool that had been recovered from his repair shop in Mradi, Mathare. M-Kopa has told the High Court that some devices had been flagged as lost, while others had their security software tinkered with to by-pass the restrictions put on customers who'd defaulted on payments.

The Raid on His Shop

M-Kopa went to the police on July 10, 2025, after some customers reported that their phones had gone missing earlier that year. The cops raided the shop, and came out with 71 phones, plus many other electronics, including computer stuff, diagnostic equipment and boxes called Pandora, Chimera and U.F.I. M-Kopa says 24 of the 29 phones they looked at were theirs, and 23 of them had been messed with. They also found 18 more financed phones worth Sh303,487, 17 of which were still on loan but were marked as inactive in their system.

Benjamin Okello has been charged with allegedly having stolen property under Section 323 of the Penal Code at Makadara Law Courts.

His Denial

Working with his lawyer Gabriel Owade, Mr Okello is trying to get the High Court to throw out Section 323, saying it makes it a crime just to be suspected, and that it puts the burden of proof on the wrong person. He's saying the phones belonged to customers who'd brought them in to be fixed, that he'd issued job cards, and that there's no way he could know about their financing. He’s also claiming the search of his premises didn't have a warrant and that the police nicked equipment worth Sh555,000.

The Court Ruling

The High Court threw out his petition and gave the go-ahead for the trial to continue. "Having a repair business doesn’t give you a free pass from being investigated," they said. They also pointed out that finding phones and all that diagnostic equipment at his place doesn’t in itself mean he's done anything wrong.

Why M-Kopa Cares A Lot

M-Kopa was founded back in 2011. They reckon they've helped nearly five million customers get their hands on over Sh210 billion in credit for phones, solar systems, and health insurance. But their whole business model relies on being able to lock devices remotely when people default on payments, so any kind of workaround is a major threat to how they make money.

Mr Okello hasn’t been found guilty, and the allegations still need to be proven in court.