27 aliens arrested along Kenya-Tanzania border

By Renson Mnyamwezi

Taita-Taveta, Kenya: Twenty-seven more aliens have been arrested for being in the country illegally.

Police said 24 suspects were found hidding in the Tsavo East National Park near Mackinnon Township while three others were at Lesesia area in the porous Kenya-Tanzania border in Taveta district.

According to police, the suspects, mainly Ethiopians, were arrested while on transit to South Africa.

Friday’s arrest brings to 47 the number of foreigners arrested in the region in the past one week. Nine other foreigners, mainly Ethiopians and Tanzanians, were picked up at Taveta and Kasigau in Voi district this week.

County Police Commander Richard Bitonga blamed Tanzanian authorities for perpetrating the vice by dumping foreigner’s on the Kenyan side.

Bitonga and Taveta OCPD Gababa Darso said some of those arrested were released from Moshi Prison in Tanzania where authorities escorted them to Kenya.

“The group was part of 45 aliens arrested and jailed in Tanzania and after completion of their sentence, they were escorted and dumped on the Kenyan side,” Bitonga told The Standard.

“The problem is that Tanzania authorities do not repatriate foreigners who have completed their sentences. The authorities transport them to the Kenya-Tanzania border and abandon them to avoid expenses,” he added.

The police officers said they had initiated bilateral talks with their counterparts in Tanzania in a bid to address the problem.