Detectives Arrest Two, Rescue 17 Ethiopians Being Smuggled in Mombasa  

Police arrested a driver and his turnboy as they transported 17 Ethiopians being smuggled out of the country.

The group was intercepted by police from Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) at the Makupa Bridge, Mombasa.

They told police they had moved from Ethiopia through the Kenya-Ethiopia in Moyale and were headed for South Africa when they were intercepted.

Acting on intelligence, the sleuths laid a trap at Makupa bridge where they intercepted an Isuzu lorry.

Upon opening the lorry’s carriage, 17 men of Ethiopian origin were rescued from therein and escorted to Makupa Police Station in the company of the lorry’s driver and his turnboy, police said.

The group told police they were on transit to South Africa after crossing to Kenya at the Kenya-Ethiopia border with the assistance of smugglers.

This is a common trend in the area amid a crackdown to address the menace of human smugglers and traffickers.

Police said they are looking for the smugglers behind the incident.

These are the latest arrests to be made on Ethiopians in a series.

Tens of Ethiopians are smuggled in a worrying trend, officials say.

According to police, most of the aliens from Ethiopia use the Moyale route and try their luck as they head to South Africa and Middle East oblivious of the dangers ahead.

Tens of the aliens are usually arrested in various places in the country as they wait to be moved to their next destinations.

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

Most of those arrested come to Kenya to seek jobs or are on transit.

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

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