Police in Masalani, Ijara sub-county, Garissa, arrested six men on Monday morning in connection with an alleged human trafficking syndicate.
The group was found hiding in a house in the Gumarey area, just two kilometres from Masalani town, following a tip-off from members of the public.
Masalani OCPD Joseph Kotut confirmed the arrests via phone, noting that the six had travelled from Garissa before being tracked down.
While he declined to provide further details, he said the suspects had been handed over to the Garissa Anti-Terror Police Unit and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for processing.
Among those arrested were five young men, aged between 18 and 24, believed to be victims of trafficking.
Four of them are refugees from the Hagadera refugee camp, and the fifth is a Kenyan from Saretho, Dadaab sub-county. The sixth person is suspected to be the trafficker.
A security officer familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the suspected trafficker is a local resident of Gumarey.
The plan, according to the officer, was to move the five to Mombasa and eventually transport them to Tanzania before proceeding to South Africa—their intended final destination.
Cases of human trafficking in the North Eastern region have risen in recent months, prompting concern among residents and leaders.
Speaking at a public forum recently, ODM nominated MP Umulkheir Harun described the issue as a growing national crisis, especially among marginalised and pastoralist communities.
“Most of our students who ought to go to college and tertiary institutions do not go but pursue avenues to be trafficked overseas,” she said.
Traffickers often prey on young people and their families by offering false promises of jobs or education abroad, exploiting their desperation for better opportunities.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has raised the alarm over Kenya's role as a source, transit point, and destination for human trafficking. According to the IOM, many children are trafficked within the country for domestic work, begging, or sexual exploitation.
On the international front, young people from northern and coastal Kenya are often trafficked to the Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Europe through fraudulent recruitment schemes.
The IOM attributes the crisis to a combination of poverty, limited access to education, high unemployment, and weak enforcement of anti-trafficking law.
