Swoop police nets 60 foreigners in Kenya

By OSINDE OBARE

Trans-Nzoia County: Police in Kitale have arrested over 60 foreigners, including a Canadian, in a major swoop in the area.

Some of the aliens were seized within the town and others while in transit to refugee camps in Turkana County.

Trans-Nzoia County Commander Lillian Okembo, who led the operation, said most of those arrested are Sudanase and Somali nationals.

The Canadian national of Somali origin, Hasan Abdulahi Hasa, was arrested at a hotel in Kitale.

Mrs Okembo said a screening exercise on the foreigners was being conducted with the help of officers from the anti-terrorism unit.

“We are screening them (foreigners) to establish their origin and reasons for being in the country,” said Mrs Okembo.

She said six of those arrested were found boarding a vehicle they had hired to transport them to Kakuma town.

Okembo said police have erected roadblocks along the Kitale-Lodwar highway to intercept foreigners entering the country illegally.

 The swoop comes as intelligence reports point to a possibility of Al-Shabaab militants operating from refugee camps in Kakuma.