Over 200 Ethiopians arrested as police hunt for human traffickers

**Some of the suspected victims of human trafficking before a Makadara Law Court.** [Ronald Kipruto, Standard]

Over 200 Ethiopian nationals have been arrested in the last three days in different parts of Nairobi as police crack the whip on suspected human trafficking networks.

Sources said the police have intensified the crackdown amid reports that Nairobi is now a favorite transit and destination point for a network of traffickers for aliens from Ethiopia.

On Tuesday evening a team of officers from the Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) DCI headquarters conducted an operation within Tassia kwa Muhundi area in Embakasi.

The officers broke into one of the residential houses and rescued 132 victims of human trafficking.

James Omwere, a neighbor said the youth between the age of 14 years and 27 years are believed to have been brought into the residence during the night.

“The DCI arrived and spent almost an hour before they came out with many young boys who we think were brought during the night,” he said.

In Kiambu, the National Police Service officers from the Githurai area with (TOCU) also arrested 37 aliens of Ethiopian Nationality.

According to the police they were found sleeping on the floor in one house at Kizito are, Mwihoko.

Two police officers were also arrested in connection to the trafficking as they were seen jumping from a perimeter wall of the residence adjacent to the scene of the arrest.

So far the police have launched a manhunt for the host of the victims as well as the house owner and a car that was at the scene.

Some 24 people believed to be victims of trafficking were arraigned in Makadara law courts after they were arrested at a building in Huruma, Nairobi.

Principle Magistrate Hellen Okwani ordered their repatriation.

According to them, they were approached by a lady who promised them job opportunities in Nairobi and on their way to Kenya they kept on changing from different vehicles with different traffickers.

The Transitional organized unit has launched an investigation into the real identities of the traffickers.