Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Sunday, February 23, busted an international syndicate of human trafficking and rescued 11 Kenyans.
The Pangani-based sleuths also arrested two foreign nationals, Thabit Hanni Yaseen Radman and Faren Yassin Radman, following a tip-off from the members of the public that there were several people locked in a single room at Ushirika Estate in Eastleigh.
“Following at tip off from the members of the public that there were several people locked in a single room at Ushirika Estate within Eastleigh, @DCI_Kenya detectives based at Pangani proceeded to the said location where in one room they found two foreign nationals namely,” DCI revealed on Twitter.
The DCI then revealed that after a further search in the adjacent room believed to have been rented by the said foreigners, they managed to rescue eleven Kenyans aged between 23-30 years.
… Thabit Hanni Yaseen Radman and Faren Yassin Radman.
A further search in the adjacent room beleived to have been rented by the said foreigners resulted to the rescue of eleven Kenyans aged between 23-30 years.
Upon Interrogation, it was established that…
/2— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) February 23, 2020
Upon further interrogation, the detectives established that the foreigners were allegedly recruiting the young women for unspecified jobs in the middle east. DCI indicated that the two suspects were in lawful custody as further investigations ensue.
Human trafficking has been a major problem facing many young Kenyans seeking employment abroad.
A human rights organisation, MUHURI, recently decried the increasing number of Kenyans being swindled of their money by unscrupulous agents promising them stadium construction jobs in Qatar among other jobs.
According to MUHURI, the migrants are subjected to de-humanising conditions including assault, indecent living conditions and inadequate food.
“We can confirm that there are locals who have left to ‘build stadiums’ in Qatar. The figure stands at 40 this year. Normally, victims or their relatives report to us as a group, not individually,” Muhuri communications officer Ernest Cornel said.
“They [rogue agents] are unregistered and difficult to trace. Those duped always report to authorities but nothing concrete comes out of it,” Cornel said.
Last year, then Labor Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani revealed that there were over 200,000 Kenyans working in the Middle East.
In response to horror stories emerging from the Gulf states, the government in 2017 established an inter-ministerial committee to weed out unregistered recruitment agencies.
However, the latest reports of Kenyans being duped to work in Qatar implies that certain rogue recruiters are still in business.