Police and immigration officials are investigating an incident where three Ivorians were arrested while seeking to get Kenyan passports at the Kericho immigration offices.
The three were armed with Kenyan identity
cards and birth certificates when they presented themselves before the
immigration officials seeking to get the travel documents.
The drama happened on Friday, May 23, and officials identified the three as Godian Romeo Osundwa, Dante Odhiambo Nyakombo and Bruce Danilo Felicien.
According to police and immigration officials, the three had arrived in the company of a woman from the Kapkatet area, Bureti, at that time.
They were interviewed, and it was discovered that the three individuals were from the Ivory Coast.
It is not clear how they obtained the Kenyan documents. Police said they struggled to speak in Swahili and they did not know their alleged mother tongue.
They were arrested and escorted to Kericho Police Station pending collection to Nakuru Immigration Regional office for further investigations and action.
Police want to establish how the three got
the documents, which were deemed original.
This is the latest such incident where
foreigners are increasingly seeking Kenyan documents and using forged ones.
Police say the majority of those in the business are from Somalia.
Immigration and other registration personnel have
been ordered to be careful whenever handling such cases to detect fraud and
take action.
Meanwhile, some 28 Ethiopians
were arrested for being in the country illegally in an operation staged in
Mandera town.
Police said they had been
informed of the movement of the group, which was headed for Nairobi.
They did not have documents
to show their legality in Kenya.
Police said they will be produced in court for
request of orders to repatriate them to their country.
In Thika Town, 17 Burundi
nationals were arrested in an operation. Police said they were in the area
illegally.
The group was detained in
custody pending production in court and repatriation to their country.
Police and immigration
officials have mounted operations to address cases of illegal immigrants in the
country.
Dozens of immigrants have
been deported and repatriated in the operations.
According to police, some of
the immigrants are involved in different forms of crime.
Others are using Kenya as a
transit point to their next destination.
Dozens of Ethiopians are arrested annually in Kenya and sent to their country.
The group uses Kenya as a
transit point to places like South Africa and the Middle East where they move
for greener pastures.
Most of them cannot communicate in English and Swahili.
