Kenyan police rescue 60 foreign victims of human trafficking in Nairobi

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Nairobi said on Thursday it rescued 60 foreign human trafficking victims at a house just east of the central business district.

The victims “were being held at an apartment in Tassia, en route for sale as slaves overseas,” it said in a statement.

Detectives based at DCI’s Transnational and Organized Crime Unit, working with Embakasi-based police officers launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants from intelligence leads and traced the victims to a residential apartment.

Police said the victims were inhumanely bundled up in one room.

“The victims aged between 14 to 50 were being trafficked from two countries neighbouring Kenya to the north against their will,” said police.

The victims are said to have been ferried to the location temporarily, as traffickers sought alternative ways of transporting them outside the country undetected.

Three suspects of Somali origin have been arrested on suspicion of being part of a larger human trafficking syndicate operating across the Horn of Africa.