Siaya police detain 19 illegal migrants

Police in Siaya have arrested 19 illegal immigrants believed to be from Congo.

The aliens including eight women and 11 children were nabbed at around 6.30 a.m. in Luanda as they were on transit from Busia border to Kisumu.

They are being detained at Sinaga Police Station, Siaya County.

Siaya County commissioner Josephine Onunga said the immigrants were found in a house where they had sought shelter after being abandoned by a Kenyan who had accompanied them.

They said the man who was with them disappeared into the thicket.

“The foreigners had tasked one of them to stand by the roadside and flag down any vehicle to ferry them to their destination, when police pounced on her,” said Ms Onunga. 

The police were acting upon a tip off by an anonymous caller.

The aliens did not have any identification documents on them.

“They said they had fled Democratic Republic of Congo because of civil war,” said the commissioner. “Communicating with them is a problem because they can’t speak in English. They only speak broken Swahili.”

Upon interview, an immigrant who refused to say her name revealed that they had paid the Kenyan between Sh8, 000 to Sh10, 000 each to be sneaked into the country.

Ms Ongunga said the immigrants are to be moved to Yala police station from Sinaga as investigations continue.

"We are yet to establish which route they used to enter Kenya. Here they can come in through the Busia border, Lake Victoria or 'panya routes'," said Mrs Onunga.

She added that they are carrying out investigations to ascertain whether it was a case or child trafficking.

The commissioner asked members of public to be vigilant and report any suspicious character to the police.

She said Siaya has a major highways passing through it and us prone to human trafficking cases.