According to the security report, the police officers were arrested on Tuesday, and 37 Ethiopians were rescued after they were found in a house on the outskirts of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
Four Kenyan police officers were being interrogated Wednesday after being arrested over human smuggling claims,
According to the security report, the police officers were arrested on Tuesday, and 37 Ethiopians were rescued after they were found in a house on the outskirts of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
The sting operation, conducted by detectives from the Transnational Organized Crime Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), caught the officers unaware as two of them attempted to escape in vain.
According to the report, an extended search was conducted at the adjacent plot after two men were seen jumping, and it was established that the two were police officers. Both were injured on the ankle in their futile attempts to escape and grounded.
Both were armed with Beretta and Ceska pistols. The weapons were later confiscated from them.
While the detectives were still at the scene, two other officers also arrived at the scene while accompanied by two other foreigners in a vehicle.
Both officers, who were armed, had arrested two other aliens who had been handcuffed, police said, adding that the officers were both detained.
The owner of the house was yet to be traced, the police said.
The incident comes amid police operations on suspected smuggling incidents.
On August 31, 2022, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that Nigerians in Kenya had raised the alarm over targeted killings and police brutality.
They also accused the government of Kenya of being behind the enforced disappearances of Nigerian nationals, adding that in one month, four Nigerians disappeared without a trace. And that in the previous month, July, a Nigerian went missing without any trace.
A Nigerian who spoke with our correspondent from Kenya described the condition Nigerians in the country were subjected to by Kenya police as unimaginable.
He asked then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to intervene before it was too late.
“I feel the Federal Government should weigh into this matter to save the lives of young Nigerians who are regularly brutalised and killed by the Kenyan police,” he said.
“I am presently in Nairobi, Kenya. On one of my visits to the Nigeria High Commission, I met a young Nigerian who drew my attention to the atrocities committed against Nigerians in Kenya. I did a little digging and noticed that the case is quite pathetic.
“The victim who is in hiding for his dear life has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs back home. Nothing was done until recently when we heard that steps were being taken on the matter.
“The killing of Nigerians in Kenya, based on my records, didn’t start today. In 2018, just in a month, we lost four Nigerians to extrajudicial killings in Kenya.”
The source further noted that the situation has become a regular occurrence, adding, “Last month, there was an enforced disappearance of a Nigerian promising young man. I strongly believe that the Kenya Police is behind these atrocities and a thorough investigation must be done to fish out the officers involved.
“I’ve told them and I repeat again, enforced disappearance is an international crime against humanity. No one should be made to disappear. Everyone has a right to life or be charged in a court of law if suspected of an offence.
“I’ve written to Abuja again yesterday requesting that the toxic marriage between Nigeria and Kenya be put to an end with immediate effect.
“What we have is unilateral relation and not bilateral. We, Nigerians are the ones being subjected to this inhuman treatment.
“It shouldn’t continue. In short, we don’t need to wait until this impotent administration is over. I’m losing my sanity!
“Nobody can be kidnapped in the Industrial Area of Nairobi. It is absolutely impossible. The Kenyan police must be held accountable for the incident that occurred there. They should produce the corpse of the Nigerian they have killed for coroner’s inquest.”