A 26-year-old university dropout accused of hacking a major betting company walked free on a Ksh500,000 cash bail after a magistrate rejected an application to detain him further.

Police arrested Seth Mwabe, a former Meru University student, in Tatu City on August 30 for allegedly hacking into the company’s systems and stealing Ksh11.4 million.

He was arraigned shortly after, where the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) applied to hold him for an additional 20 days to complete investigations.

During a Wednesday, September 3 hearing, Senior Principal Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi dismissed the DCI’s application, ruling that it lacked merit.

“Having considered the same, I find that the application is not merited in terms of denying the respondent his liberty and hereby do not allow the application,” he ruled.

The magistrate further noted that the request did not meet the threshold required for detention.

Ekhubi set Mwabe’s bail at Ksh500,000 or a bond of Ksh1 million with a surety of the same amount.

If the suspect failed to raise the amount, the investigating officer requested that he be held at Capitol Hill Police Station.

Magistrate Ekhubi also issued a stern warning directly to Mwabe.

“Do not interfere in the investigations, you’ll be in breach of the set bond/bail terms,” the magistrate cautioned.

To ensure cooperation, the court ordered Mwabe to present himself to the Investigating Officer every Tuesday at 10 am. The schedule was a slight adjustment from the IO’s initial 9 am request, after the defense successfully argued for an extra hour to allow the suspect time for work commitments.

The case will be mentioned on October 7, 2025.