At least 40 Jordanian tourists who were stranded in Mombasa will be deported to their country on Friday, Coast police have said.
The tourists were arrested on Monday after they were spotted begging in the streets of Mombasa. They were transferred to Nairobi from Mombasa on Thursday morning.
They will be deported through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the police said.
They were transferred to Nairobi by bus. They were escorted by police officers from the DCI and the Immigration Department.
According to a senior police officer in Mombasa, the foreigners — 19 adults and 21 children — had valid tourists’ visas.
The foreigners were found begging in the streets of the Old Town and Mackinnon market (Marikiti) in order to raise funds to travel to Nairobi.
Mvita subcounty police commander Maxwell Agoro confirmed to the Star that the foreigners arrived in the country on diverse dates between August 27 and 29 this year.
“They were staying in various hotels within, but later they were found begging within the streets of Mombasa, which means they were flouting the visa rules,” Agoro said.
Preliminary police investigations revealed that the 40 foreigners were raising funds through begging to travel to Nairobi’s Eastleigh.
After their arrest, they were taken to the Coast regional police headquarters for interrogation and handed over to the regional DCI, said Agoro.
It is believed it was a case of human trafficking because they came to the country on a one-way ticket.
However, Agoro said the regional DCI was better placed to respond to the issue of human trafficking because they were handling the case.
The foreigners were transferred to a hotel within the Mombasa CBD with assistance of a Mombasa philanthropist Hasmukh Patel, who is also the Mombasa Cement Company CEO.
Tudor MCA-elect Samir Baloo said Patel paid accommodation and food bills for the foreigners at a Mombasa town hotel.
“We have worked with the DCI Human Trafficking department to help the Jordanian citizens who were stranded in Mombasa,” Baloo said.
“Investigations carried out showed they had valid documents, but they were found to be moving around with children begging for money.
“In this group, we had men, women and children. That is the reason why we had to intervene so that women and children were not affected.”
According to Baloo, they learnt of the arrest of the foreigners four days ago.
“We do not know why they were stranded, but they came into the country with a one-way ticket. We have done what we have done (helping them) on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
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