Police in Kakamega today unearthed a human trafficking syndicate that facilitated movement of women to the Middle East purportedly to work as casual labourers.
A team of officers drawn from the regular and administration pounced on the 33-year-old suspect who police said was preparing to transport 38 women aged between 19-45 years to Middle East.
The suspect is currently being held at Kakamega Central Police Station as investigations into the matter continue.
Kakamega Central Sub County Police Commander, David Kabena, said the women had been harboured at a school awaiting to be ferried either to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and other Middle East countries.
“We got intelligence report from the members of the public that women had been camping for three days at a secondary School at Elwesero area but their mission there was unknown,” said Mr Kabena.
According to Kabena, the suspect is said to have hired space at the secondary school to host the women for a religious function.
“The school management became suspicious when they discovered that only women were being hosted at the school and that no religious activity was going on, prompting them to inform the police and then we acted swiftly,” said Kabena.
The Sub County Police Commander (SCPC) said a team of Narcotics and Human Trafficking from the police headquarters in Nairobi has already landed in the county to probe the suspect further and then 38 women before being presented to court tomorrow.
He said the team will also do more investigations into the matter to establish the number of women and youths who have taken to middle east, saying that members of the public who have their kinsmen who might have been taken to Asian countries by middlemen to report to the police.
Kabena said they suspect the syndicate has been ongoing and that many people might have been ferried to middle east to work as casual labourers.
“We will not allow unscrupulous middlemen to misuse our people by selling them as slaves to middle East as casual labourers. This is pure exploitation and must stop. Many Kenyans have died in middle east and we can’t give room to that,” said Kabena.
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