Police unearth human trafficking racket in Nairobi, recover passports

Peninah Njau and Passports found in her possession. She and a Rwandese national are facing charges of human trafficking (Photo: Courtesy)

Police have unearthed a human trafficking racket that has been operating in Umoja area, Nairobi and recued two Rwandese girls.

In the operation, a Kenyan woman identified as Peninah Wambui Njau and a Rwandese man Albert Baofanye Bukuru were arrested and are suspected to be behind the trafficking ring.

What began as a promise to be flown to Doha for a job would end at the Anti- Terror Police Unit headquarters for the young Rwandese girls when they reported that they were being held against their will in a residential house in Umoja by Bukuru.

According to police, the two confessed to having been sneaked into Kenya irregularly before being housed in Bukuru’s Umoja home and their passports confiscated by Peninah.

A multi-agency security team would track down and arrested Bukuru in his home in Umoja while Peninah evaded a police raid at her Kiambu home that led to the recovery of several Ugandan and Madagascan passports.

She later resurfaced and attempted to bribe the investigating officer in exchange for the confiscated passports.

She was arrested on Sunday Decemer 10, and remanded at the Gigiri Police Station as the probe went on, police said.

Records from Police show an increase in the number of Ugandan and Rwandese nationals being smuggled through Kenya to Middle Eastern countries.

The investigations attribute this rise to a ban by the two East African countries against their nationals travelling for employment in the Middle East.

This ban, which remains officially un-communicated to Kenyan authorities, has amplified corruption among government officers operating at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport who facilitate this illegal movement.

“It should be noted that due to pressure from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Kenya is currently considering a lift on a similar ban against Kenyan nationals travelling to the Middle East. Should the Kenyan ban be successfully lifted, it is likely that the number of East African citizens transiting Kenya will rise to unmanageable proportions,” said one officer aware of the probe.

The suspects are expected to be charged with involvement in human trafficking and being in possession of multiple passports on Thursday December 14, 2017.