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Ten Ethiopians Arrested in Taveta While Headed for Tanzania

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FILE IMAGE OF HANDCUFFS. [COURTESY]

Ten Ethiopian nationals were arrested from a house in Taita Taveta while headed for Tanzania.

They told police they were being smuggled to Tanzania through the Taita Taveta border.

Police said the men were locked in a house along Mwarangeenyi- Mumari Sechu Road.

Locals had called police to inform them of the presence of the aliens.

They only ventured out for call of nature. The smuggler behind the incident is yet to be found, police said.

Police said this is the latest such incident to happen in the recent days.

At the Isebania border in Migori, three Egyptians were arrested for trying to cross to Tanzania. They did not have documents to warrant their being in the country, police said.

They were all expected in court on Monday ahead of planned repatriation to their countries.

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.

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.

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.

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

As part of efforts to deal with the menace, an Ethiopian national was sentenced to 31 years in prison for trafficking 12 fellow Ethiopians immigrants in Nairobi.

Yibekal Gatachew alias Adinan Mohamed Galano was sentenced by a Kahawa West Law Court on September 7, 2023 following his arrest on November 3, 2021 in Ngumo estate, Nairobi.

During the arrest, 12 Ethiopian nationals were found emaciated and chained in a room as they waited to be repatriated to a different country while headed for South Africa.

Gatachew was also sentenced for an additional year for acquiring a fake document.

This was after he was found with a fake alien identity card.

The immigrants were later repatriated to Ethiopia.

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