Kenyan Police Arrest 53 Ethiopian Aliens, Human Traffickers

• Posted by Hiwot on October 18, 2013 at 12:04pm
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SAMBURU, Kenya, (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police have arrested 53 Ethiopian aliens and two suspected human traffickers in northern Kenya as the authorities beefed up security along its borders and at all entry points.


Samburu County Police Commander Samuel Muthamia said on Tuesday that the Ethiopians in their early 20s were nabbed near Lososia and Archers post in Samburu County on their way to Nairobi after a tip-off from the members of the public.  [The above image is from previous arrest]
“The suspects have no valid documents and could not express themselves in any other language except Amharic,” Muthamia said.


The police also managed to seize two Land cruisers and Prado vehicles they were travelling in during the swoop. Muthamia said the young men aged between 23 and 30 will be charged for being in the country illegally along side the two Kenyans harboring them or providing safe entry into the country.
The aliens who were now held at the local police station claimed that they entered Kenya in search for menial jobs to feed their starving families.


They told the police that they were promised jobs by brokers who abandoned them when they realized police are on their trail.
There has been mass exodus of Ethiopian aliens into the country who later head to South Africa in search of employment.


Muthamia said the police have erected police barriers randomly across the region to control illegal immigration of aliens into the country.
He blamed the vastness of the region for the runaway influx of foreigners into Kenya through Moyale on Kenya-Ethiopia borders.
“The new law on human trafficking will help us pin down the local involved in harboring and trafficking in human in the region, “ Muthamia said.
Last week, police called on the government to help them enforce the new trafficking law to curb cases of human trafficking in the region.





They said the penalties imposed on the aliens and the traffickers were lenient and that strict penalties should be imposed to deter them from the activities.
Human trafficking across borders have provided steady revenue stream to organized gangs who extort a fee from migrants willing to enter countries illegally.
Refugee rights organizations and aid agencies have blamed poverty in Africa for the rising cases of human trafficking. They said that the huge supply of labor both skilled and unskilled makes them vulnerable to criminal syndicates.


According to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), up to 20,000 Somali and Ethiopian immigrants are smuggled into Kenya annually with the South Africa as their final destination.
However, globally approximately 600,000 to 800,000 persons are trafficked annually with 80 percent of victims being female.
International police organization, Interpol in August arrested 38 suspects of human trafficking in Ethiopia, 28 human trafficking victims rescued and 15 suspects arrested in Uganda in Interpol- backed security operations across Eastern and Southern Africa.

Interpol said the operation which targeted human, drugs and arms traffickers across Eastern and Southern Africa also resulted in the identification of hundreds of illegal immigrants.
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