14 Ethiopians arrested in Kirinyaga for illegal stay

Fourteen Ethiopians have been arrested in Kirinyaga county after their vehicle was involved in an accident.

It is suspected they were being trafficked to or through Kenya. 

They were arrested on Saturday evening at Kibirigwi village, Kirinyaga West Sub-County Police Commander Martha Ng'etich said.

He added that the foreigners included 10 children aged between 12 and 13.

"When we checked the vehicle we found four adults [foreigners] while the rest were children," she said.

The 14 were in transit to Nairobi before the car crash. No one was hurt in the incident.

When the accident happened, residents alerted the police who rushed to the scene only to find the Ethiopians trapped inside and rescued them.

The crash victims, who could not speak English or Kiswahili, were taken to Baricho Police Station where they are being held pending arraignment.

Ng'etich said the Ethiopians will be charged with being in the country illegally.

"They had no documents allowing them to be in Kenya and they must face the law," she said.

The police said two Kenyans believed to have been involved in the suspected human trafficking incident were also arrested and are being questioned.

Ng'etich told the residents to continue supporting the police in exposing illegal immigrants sneaking into the country.