Police officers on Saturday arrested 47 Ethiopian nationals in Makindu, Makueni County over allegations of entering the country illegally.
The foreigners were arrested in the town located on the Mombasa - Nairobi Highway while travelling via a truck.
According to reports, the truck was en route to South Africa where all the 47 Ethiopian nationals were headed.
“We received information that there were people who came out of a container and we rushed there and managed to arrest 47 Ethiopians and the driver,” Makindu police boss Jashon Polloh told the press.
According to Poloh, the foreigners had no documents to show that they indeed followed the right procedure before entering the country.
“They were travelling in a truck and might have navigated on their way from the Kenyan border and managed to reach here but due to the situation inside the container it became unbearable," Polloh noted.
"When they reached a petrol station near Makindu Town, maybe they were complaining and the vehicle stopped probably to allow them to come out to get fresh air."
He also noted that investigations had commenced in a bid to establish the aliens' objectives.
The 47 foreigners were taken to the Makindu Police Station and placed under custody awaiting their arraignment in court. The truck was also towed to the law enforcement outpost.
In a similar incident in October last year, two police officers were arrested on allegations of smuggling 13 foreigners into the country.
According to a police report, 4 were Eritrean nationals, one a Sudanese while the rest were Ethiopian nationals.
“A team comprising of regular police from Lokichar Police Station and DCI Turkana South laid ambush and later intercepted the suspected vehicle near Town Chini area in Lokichar,” read part of police statement.
Police also managed to recover an AK-47 rifle and a magazine inside the Toyota car which was ferrying the foreigners who were later detained at the Lokichar Police Station.
