60 Victims Of Human Trafficking Rescued At An Apartment In Tassia

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 23- Detectives in Nairobi have rescued 60 victims of human trafficking, while being held at an apartment in Tassia.

The Directorate of Criminal investigations in a statement said the victims were en route for sale as human slaves, overseas. 

“Acting on intelligence leads, sleuths based at DCI’s Transnational & Organized Crime Unit, augmented by Embakasi-based officers while on a scrupulous crackdown on illegal immigrants, traced the victims to a residential apartment within Tassia in Embakasi, Nairobi County,” the DCI said in a statement posted on social media platforms.

“After securing the perimetre of the premise, the perceptive officers gained entry into the apartment, only to be greeted with hysterical faces of the victims, inhumanely bundled up in one room. “

The victims aged between 14 to 50 were being trafficked from two countries neighboring Kenya to the north against their will, police said.

Upon further inquiries, it was established that the 60 victims had been ferried to the location temporarily, as the traffickers sought alternative ways of transporting them outside the country undetected.

During the maneuver, three suspects were arrested on suspicion of being part of a larger human trafficking syndicate operating across the Horn of Africa. 

The three were identified as Mohammed Omar Aden, 29, Halima Mohammed Osman, 43, and 23-year-old Sala Yusuf.

The victims and the suspects are currently being held at different police stations in Nairobi pending legal procedures.