Police officers, on Tuesday, arrested a woman behind one of the notorious physically challenged beggars syndicate in Nakuru.
The suspect, Mary Mong’are, reportedly used foreign beggars who officers established were from Tanzania.
In the operation, the police rescued 20 victims that included a pupil at Kileleni Primary School in Tanzania.
Confirming the arrest, Nakuru East Deputy County Commissioner Herman Shambi revealed that the suspect was housing and feeding the disabled while running the syndicate.
“The woman has employed people who transport the beggars to strategic points within the town. She also collects the money donated to the beggars,” Daily Nation quoted Shambi.
Mong'are was arraigned in a Nakuru court on Wednesday and charged with 30 counts of smuggling and harbouring illegal foreigners.
“It is so inhuman to use the disability of another human being to enrich yourself. The conditions in which the woman had kept the individuals was not conducive,” stated Chief Magistrate Josephat Kalo.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty and was released on Ksh3 million bond with an alternative of Ksh1.5 million cash bail.
The judge further charged the victims with being in the country illegally.
He, however, pardoned them and ordered for them to be returned to Tanzania immediately.
