39 Ethiopians who were arrested in Kiganjo and Karatina towns with illegal travel documents set to be deported.
Nyeri County Police Commander Ali Nuno Wednesday appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Philip Mutua where he said the government had overturned a decision to detain the illegal immigrants and had opted to repatriate them.
Mr Nuno urged the court to withdraw an order issued by the magistrate on Tuesday allowing the confinement of the immigrants pending investigations on how they entered the country.
He explained that it had been established there was a systematic failure by either police or Immigration Department officers at the Moyale boarder point.
“We are now investigating how the systematic failure at the border point occurred and made the Ethiopians to enter Kenya. The immigrants had visas but which were issued in a dubious manner and we have decided to have them repatriated as we conduct investigations at the border,” said Mr Nuno.
Police had arrested 41 Ethiopians and one American on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
But Mr Nuno explained that after vetting by a multi-agency team, three were found to have legal travel documents and were subsequently released.