The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Sunday, March 15, rescued 29 women who were being held against their will at a hideout in Nairobi's Dandora Estate.
Investigations led the officers to a house in Peyanya area, where they unearthed an elaborate human trafficking syndicate.
The 29 Kenyan women aged between 21- 40, revealed that they had been holed up at the house for 14 days.
"Upon interrogation, it was established that the 29 suspected victims were brought into the premises by an agent by the name Najad who allegedly owns Afaq Ikhtyear Recruitment Limited based in Westlands," the statement shared by the DCI reads in part.
The women also informed the police that Najad was to send them out to various Middle East countries.
He is also said to have confiscated their National Identity Cards and travel documents before leaving them in the Dandora hideout for two weeks.
Officers from the DCI announced that efforts to track down the alleged trafficker were at an advanced stage, having already established his base of operations in Nairobi's Westlands area.
According to a 2018 US State Department report, Kenya falls short of minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking.
In addition, the country was also singled out as a source, destination, and transit point for most human trafficking activities.
Under most of the cases that have emerged thus far, victims are vulnerable children and young adults (majorly female). The inhumane treatment that awaits them includes forced labour and sexual exploitation.
The report further claimed that some Kenyans who migrate in search of employment are exploited in domestic servitude, suspicious massage parlours and brothels across Europe, the US, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman were listed as the main Middle East destinations where Kenyans have confessed to having undergone forced manual labour or other forms of exploitation.
