According to the child right experts, sex trafficking of children in this country has become a nationwide problem. And traffickers target troubled girls with low self-esteem.
A Mombasa tycoon has been arrested and expected to be charged with exploiting women she allegedly used as “sex slaves” as part of a sophisticated and lucrative business that is suspected to involve local and foreign clients.
The Nepalese women who were trafficked through Tanzania and ended up in Kenya are suspected to have been sexually exploited during beach parties, and in rented houses in Mombasa.
The twelve Nepalese girls were arrested in the raid at New Rangeela Bar and Restaurant in Nyali, owned by tycoon Asif Amirali Alibhai Jetha.
The girls are said to have been sneaking into the country through the porous Lunga-Lunga border with Tanzania.
Investigations have revealed that with Sh50,000, one can watch exotic Indian, Nepalese and Chinese dancers perform at exclusive clubs frequented by tycoons in Mombasa and Nairobi.
But if one wants more, they will have to part with Sh100,000.
Mr Paul Adhoch, the Trace Kenya executive director, said that girls are trafficked into the country as traditional dancers only to end up as sex slaves.
“When they come, their documents are confiscated and they are locked up in rooms where they perform exotic dances or sex,” the boss of the anti-people-trafficking NGO said.
“They bring in girls below 25 years, some are minors; they come to Kenya for greener pastures and most are illiterate,” he said.
Mr Adhoch said that most traffickers are foreigners, mainly Britons and Canadians.
Whenever the girls are arrested, he said, they plead guilty and are repatriated to their home countries.
Before and when being trafficked, the victim may be promised a better life or job. Out of a natural desire to look for greener pastures, they may dispose of their property.
The criminal groups organise for travel documents such as passports for those being trafficked.
When the victims reach their destination, they are handed over to their sponsors or slave masters and the documents are seized.
That is when it dawns on them that they have become sex slaves or will be exploited for labour.
Mrs Caren Ogoti, the head of the counter-trafficking unit in the Department of Children Services, says trafficking of youngsters has been complicated with the use of technology.