Kenya deports 10 more foreigners

Ten more foreigners who have been in the country illegally were on Wednesday deported to their countries.

This brings to more than 20 the number of foreigners so far arrested and repatriated since Monday.

Sources told the Nation that President Kenyatta had sanctioned the deportations after it emerged most of foreigners were involved in illegal businesses including drug trafficking and child molestation.

Those arrested on Tuesday night were from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana and Congo.

The suspects’ lawyer Cliff Ombeta said they were rounded up from their houses in Nairobi and detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Mr Ombeta complained that the deportation was not procedural, adding that some of them had pending criminal cases.

However, a senior government official said acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Githu Muigai had approved the move.

“The minister is legally mandated to order deportation of such people,” the official said.

Controversial Nigerian businessman Anthony Chinedu was deported on Monday.

Mr Ombeta claimed a Kenyan chartered flight that delivered him to Lagos had been detained over unclear reasons with eight police officers and immigration officials on board.

Mr Chinedu is among six Nigerians deported on Monday for being in the country illegally.

They were arrested from their houses on Sunday night in a police operation following reports that they were involved in “dirty” businesses.

Chinedu was, in April, arrested in his house on claims that he was in possession of 10 grammes of heroin that he is believed to have either been using or wanted to traffic.