Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers have rescued nine minors from a child-trafficking den in Soweto slums in Nairobi.
80-year-old Sophia Wanjiru was among the three suspects nabbed during the DCI raid on Monday.
She is suspected to be the ring leader of the syndicate that was hiding the children with the intention of trafficking them.
Aged between 12 to 17 years, the children were confined in rooms and subjected to harsh living conditions according to the statement issued on Tuesday morning.
The police confirmed that they rescued the children after launching investigations into the disappearance of a 17-year-old student, which led the officers to the Soweto residence.
“The arrests followed the disappearance of a 17-year-old student from Soweto, whose search led detectives to the house where they found the children packed in a room. Investigators believe that the children were waiting to be trafficked.
Other suspects arraigned in the operation include 41-year-old Said Hamisi and 52-year-old Maimuna Bakar.
A tweet by DCI assured that the rescued children were now in safe custody.
In an attempt to address the issue of child trafficking, the government recently issued a moratorium against adoptions of Kenyan children by foreigners. This was due to a rise in suspected cases of children being stolen and sold off to foreigners.
The objective of the ban was to enable the government to conduct a comprehensive audit of policy and legal framework, procedures and players involved in adoption.
