Detectives in Kajiado are pursuing a racket of human trafficking syndicates believed to be luring young men to non-existing jobs before forcefully trafficking them to various unidentified countries.
A suspect identified as Geoffrey Kinuthia is being held by police to aid in investigations after he was arrested ferrying 90 males of Ethiopian origin.
The suspect was driving a canter bearing registration number KCB 548K and was stopped at Imbirikani roadblock along Loitoktok road on Monday evening, February 19, 2024, before police heard voices of restless people yelling.
Kinuthia claimed that he was just contracted to be the driver of the vehicle and he did not know the luggage he was carrying. He said he was instructed to deliver the luggage to a man only identified as Ken within Loitoktok.
“Ordinarily the route has a big number of canters and lorries because of the lucrative tomato and onion business in Loitoktok. We noted the canter was speeding and we stopped it at the roadblock. While questioning the driver over speeding, we heard voices of restless people and some coughs. When we ordered the driver to open the canter we found 90 males. They were congested and others were sitting on top of others, they seem to have been packed like luggage to fit into the lorry,” intimated an officer who was among those manning the roadblock.
The officer says the occupants who were all males looked frail, tired and hungry and had communication challenges due to language barrier.
Majority of the foreigners who have since been identified as Ethiopians were teenage boys aged from 10 years and a few youths.
The matter was reported at Imbirikani police station under OB number 05/19/02/2024.
Loitoktok and Namanga are among the porous borders between Kenya and Tanzania.
The foreigners were detained and the vehicle held at Oloitoktok police station pending further investigations.
