Human Trafficking ring nabbed, 38 women destined for middle East rescued

File image of police at a crime scene. Police in Kakamega have dismantled a human trafficking syndicate and rescued 38 women destined for Middle East

Kenya has been flagged as a source, transit, and destination country for persons subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking in East Africa.

Police in Kakamega have dismantled a human-trafficking syndicate and rescued 38 women who were destined for the Middle East to serve as casual laborers.

Acting on a tip-off, police stormed a secondary School at Elwesero where the women had been camping for three days.

Confirming the incident, Kakamega Central Sub County Police Commander, David Kabena revealed that police “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”.

A 33 year old suspect who police sources indicate was preparing to transport 38 women aged between 19-45 years to Middle East was also arrested and taken in for questioning.

According to Kabena, the suspect hired space at the secondary school to host the women for a religious function. However, members of the public and the school administration became suspicious after noticing that no religious activity was going on at the ‘women only’ event.

“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,” Kabena said.

File image of police at a crime scene. Police in Kakamega have dismantled a human trafficking syndicate and rescued 38 women destined for Middle East

He revealed that a team specialized in Narcotics and Human Trafficking from the police headquarters in Nairobi had arrived in Kakamega to probe the suspect and the 38 women who will be produced in court tomorrow.

The women were destined for either the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and other Middle East countries where reports indicate that they would become casual labourers.

The countries have been n the spot light for alleged mistreatment of Kenyans working as casual labourers with several returning in body bags.

“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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