- These are the latest arrests to be made on Ethiopians in a series.
- Tens of Ethiopians are smuggled in a worrying trend, officials say.
Detectives are looking for a suspected smuggler who allegedly duped four Ethiopians into going to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on promises they would fly out to the Middle East.
The four however did not have any traveling documents when they arrived at the airport on Sunday night.
They told police their “contact” who happened to be a smuggler had asked them to wait for him at the airport.
They waited for hours in vain when they decided to move to the screening area.
Airport security sought to know which airline they were to use and their destination but they told them they were waiting for their contact person to facilitate them.
It was then that a decision was made to arrest the group after it emerged they did not have any travelling documents.
Police said they will in the meantime be charged with being in the country unlawfully before plans are made to repatriate them to their country.
Police say they are currently holding more than 50 Ethiopians in separate cells in the country after they were found in the country illegally and being smuggled.
"Some have been repatriated but we have more than 50 waiting to be processed," said an officer aware of the issue.
Most of the victims lack travelling documents.
Last week, some of those in custody staged a hunger strike at the Buruburu police station in Nairobi seeking to be repatriated to their country.
These are the latest arrests to be made of 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 the 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 in transit.
What is puzzling is how the immigrants manage to evade many police roadblocks mounted from the Moyale border where they used 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.
As part of efforts to deal with the menace, an Ethiopian national was sentenced to 31 years in prison for trafficking 12 fellow Ethiopian 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.
Most of those nabbed are usually repatriated to their country, police and immigration officials say.