Officers from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit on Wednesday rescued 58 Ethiopian nationals who were being held in a house in Kitengala.
The officers drawn from the unit which is under the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), together with officers from Kitengela Police Station, rescued the foreigners following a tip-off from members of the public.
Neighbours had tipped the officers after reportedly seeing a group of Ethiopians being confined in a maisonette in the area near the House of Deliverance Center in Kitengela.
The elite unit managed to apprehend two suspects who the DCI revealed were persons of interest in the investigations to establish how the nationals who were en route to South Africa ended up in Kenya.
''A well-coordinated operation by officers from the Transnational Organized Crime Unit and Kitengela Police Station has successfully rescued 58 Ethiopian nationals who were being held in a house near the House of Deliverance Center in Kitengela. During the operation, two suspects were arrested,'' DCI stated.
''Preliminary investigations have revealed that the victims had been brought to the house three days earlier and were awaiting transportation to South Africa.''
According to the DCI, the 58 nationals had been locked up in the house for three days and appeared weak and malnourished at the time of the rescue.
Additionally, the victims did not have any identification documents with them at the time of the rescue.
''This follows a tip-off from concerned members of the public who reported seeing a group of Ethiopians being confined in a maisonette in the said area,'' the detectives stated.
''Acting on this intelligence, officers swiftly responded and found the victims who appeared weak, malnourished, and without identification documents in the company of two Kenyan suspects in the said house.''
Out of the rescued individuals, 28 were escorted to Kitengela Police Station while the remaining 30 were taken to Isinya Police Station. The two Kenyan suspects were escorted to Muthaiga Police Station.
Meanwhile, a Honda motorcycle was also recovered at the compound and is being held at Kitengela Police Station as an exhibit.
