The government of India has begun the process of deporting a host of Kenyan women who were found in the country with expired visas while hiding in a hotel.
The Kenyans are among 15 women from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania who were found in a hotel during a surprise check-in by Indian authorities while having expired visas.
According to the Indian police, they were residing in the city of Powai unlawfully as their tourism visas, which they had used to gain entry into the Asian country, had expired, according to a media report by the Indian Times.
Powai police also booked the manager of the hotel after he failed to report the foreign tenants who had been staying at the establishment for the last two weeks.
Out of the 15, nine were Kenyans who had travelled to India a few months ago on tourist visas. Accordingly, the nation's police authorities have started the process of deporting the foreign nationals.
How Police Traced Them
According to police, an official of the Anti-Terrorist Cell (ATC) from Powai police station received intelligence about foreign nationals staying in the hotel for several days.
This information was obtained after a police team conducted a surprise check-in at the hotel located in Marol, Andheri (East), on Wednesday.
Why They Went to India
According to Indian authorities, the women allegedly went to work as commercial sex workers with more investigations to ascertain the same ongoing.
In a bid to conceal their identities and operations, the police said they kept changing their hotel every month or every 15 days.
Cases of Kenyan women traveling under questionable circumstances have been on the rise in recent months, with the authorities on high alert to curb the practice. A majority of the cases often involve drug trafficking.
In May Kenyan woman was detained by Indian authorities after being caught attempting to smuggle liquid cocaine into the country through Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA).
According to the Hindustan Times, the woman arrived at the airport from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and a routine search of her luggage led to the discovery of the illegal drug.
Reportedly, the initial search did not reveal anything suspicious. However, officers from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovered two bottles of moisturising lotion from her bag that tested positive for cocaine.
The DRI officers reported that the discovery had stemmed from a tip-off. The two bottles held approximately 1.57 litres of the drug worth around ₹15.71 crore (about Ksh238 million in current exchange rates).
