A Russian official arrested in Nairobi over a syndicate where Kenyans were being recruited and trafficked to Moscow to join fighting against Ukraine was deported from Nairobi.
Officials said Mike Lyapin, a Russian national and an employee at the embassy in Nairobi was booked on an Air Arabia flight from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Friday September 26, 2025 at 1pm.
The flight was scheduled to transit Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and connect to Moscow.
“He was sent away after his arrest over this saga,” said an official aware of then developments.
Lyapin was a key player in the cartel trafficking Kenyans to Russia to join the military.
His arrest and detention on Thursday evening came after the security agencies rescued 22 Kenyans from rented apartments where they were unknowingly being processed to travel to Russia.
Lyapin who first came to Kenya on March 6, 2017 was booked at Muthaiga Police cells ahead of his deportation.
The security officers continue to caution Kenyans from being duped with lucrative offers of employment in Russia as they will end up being forcefully enlisted in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Officials said they are pursuing more suspects in the saga.
This is after it emerged more than a dozen Kenyans had left for Russia for the mission.
Kenya’s security agencies on Wednesday unravelled the mysterious human trafficking syndicate which has been recruiting Kenyans in the guise of work in Moscow, Russia but end up joining Russian military.
The group is later deployed to the war front with Ukraine.
This success was borne out of a multi-agency approach where officers drawn across security agencies focused on the vice after it was established Kenyans were being duped to pay huge amounts to secure employment in Russia but end up fighting with Ukraine forces where some are reported to be killed and those who survive are maimed, bear wounds of torture or a psychologically disturbed.
Two Kenyans returned to the country recently from Russia and one is admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital.
A man accused of running the human trafficking syndicate was detained for ten days to allow police to complete investigations.
The Kahawa Law Courts ordered that Edward Kamau Gituku be held at Muthaiga Police Station after prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) applied for his continued detention.
He is accused of involvement in a syndicate trafficking Kenyans to Russia to join the war against Ukraine.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) told the court that Gituku was arrested on September 25, 2025 at Great Wall Gardens estate in Athi River, Machakos County, where officers rescued 22 Kenyan nationals suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
Police said Gituku was the tenant of several houses where the victims had been sheltered.
“The officers gained entry into several houses at Great Wall Gardens in Athi river which were two and three bedroomed houses and managed to rescue twenty-two Kenyan nationals suspected to be victims of human traflicking,” read the court documents
The DCI through Sergeant Bramwel Saima of the Transnational Organised Crimes Unit said they recovered several passports and a Samsung Galaxy phone from the suspect.
Saima alleged that some victims had already been trafficked to Moscow, with one now hospitalised in Nairobi after returning from Russia for urgent surgery.
“One of the victims who had been trafficked to Russia is currently hospitalised in Kenya and he’s set to undergo a surgery medical procedure after returning from Russia,” read court documents.
The police asked for more time to record statements from the victims, conduct an identification parade, and subject the seized phone to forensic examination.
Police also said they were pursuing other suspects believed to be part of the syndicate.
Gituku is being investigated for trafficking in persons contrary to the Counter Trafficking in Persons Act, 2010.
“It is in the interest of justice and within the discretion of this honourable court to consider the orders sought,” said Saima.
The case adds to growing concern over the trafficking of Kenyan youth abroad under false promises.
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