Police arrest 49 illegal immigrants in Kayole, Huruma estates

Police in Nairobi County on Thursday arrested 49 suspected illegal immigrants, believed to be of Ethiopian descent, in Nairobi's Kayole and Huruma estates.

Thirty-one of them were nabbed at a house in Komarock Phase 3 estate after resident Nyumba Kumi members alerted police.  

The owner of the house has yet to be identified.

"Orderly Officer Kayole, STAPOL Soweto, Duty Officer, Mugendi One, Duty NCO and Crime Aid rushed to the scene and found 31 people of Ethiopian origin aged between 14-35 years without any documentation in their possession in a mansion house whose owner was unidentified," a police report documenting the incident reads in part.

"The suspects could not communicate in either English or Kiswahili or any other local language."

The illegal immigrants are currently being detained at Kayole Police Station pending arraignment while a manhunt for the owner of the house is currently underway.

The remaining 18 aliens were apprehended in Huruma at a house within Jonsaga area. Police believe they were destined for South Africa.

"At 1235 hours. acting on intelligence, STAPOL Huruma received information about a house within Jonsaga area suspected to be holding ground for aliens who are in transit to South Africa," a police report on the same reads.

"He mobilized his officers and they managed to stealthily access the house and therein they found eighteen aliens suspected to be of Ethiopian origin cramped together in a single room."

The trafficker however managed to evade the police dragnet.

The 18 will be arraigned in court on Friday (tomorrow) where they will be charged with being in the country illegally.