KENYAN POLICE FREE 70 FOREIGN NATIONALS IN NAIROBI HUMAN TRAFFICKING BUST. (PHOTO).

 Kenyan police free 70 foreign nationals in Nairobi human trafficking bust

Kenyan police have rescued 70 foreign nationals, mostly Ethiopians, who were being held in a house in Nairobi by a suspected human trafficking ring, police said on Thursday.

Following a tip-off, officers freed the foreign nationals, including 66 Ethiopians and four Eritreans, who were confined in a house in Ruai area, police said on US social media platform X, Anadolu Agency reported.

One Kenyan suspect was arrested in connection with the case.

Kenya is a key transit hub for migrants from the Horn of Africa, many of whom leave home each year seeking jobs in South Africa, the Gulf states, or Europe.

‘Well-paying jobs’

Traffickers, often working through loose networks that include local facilitators, lure them with promises of safe passage and well-paying jobs.

Police in Kenya have intensified a crackdown on human traffickers. In February, security agents arrested Festus Omwamba, accused of duping Kenyans with promises of skilled work in Russia, only for them to end up on the front lines of the fighting in Ukraine.

Omwamba, who was identified by three Kenyan recruits who spoke to The Associated Press, had gone missing after families started protesting the disappearances and deaths of their relatives in the war in Ukraine.

The Kenyan government last month also informed that more than 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine and that at least 89 Kenyans were still on the front line, 39 were hospitalized, 28 were missing in action, and others had returned home. At least one person was confirmed dead.