Puzzle of 26 Ethiopians Arrested in Muranga for Being in the Country Illegally

Officials are puzzled after they found 26 women of Ethiopian origin in an unfinished house in a village in Muranga County.

This is after villagers in Kwambirwa called police and informed them the group had been confined in the house and were being fed at night.

A team of police led by county commander David Mathiu visited the area and found the women aged between 22 and 32 in the house armed with their passports in the Monday evening incident.

They told police they were headed for South Africa for greener pastures and that a smuggler who took them there was missing.

Police said they recovered the 26 passports and 16 mobile phones from the women.

Two men including the owner of the house were detained for grilling.

Read: 71 Ethiopians Arrested in Suspected Human Trafficking in Machakos

What is puzzling is how long the women had been there and how they found their way there.

This is the latest such incident to be reported in a series so far.

Dozens of Ethiopians are arrested in the country as they try to use this route to other places like Tanzania, the Middle East and South Africa.

Police and immigration officials have decried increased cases of Ethiopian aliens nabbed in the country while on transit.

Officials from the Transnational Organized Crime are conducting joint operations to deal with the issue of human smuggling.

Tens of Ethiopians are annually arrested in Kenya while in transit and later deported. Most of those arrested come to Kenya to seek jobs or are in transit.

What is puzzling is how the immigrants manage to evade many police roadblocks mounted from the Moyale border where they use to Nairobi.

There are more than 20 roadblocks on the stretch, which raises the seriousness of the security agents taming the practice.