- Was also sentenced to an additional year for acquiring a fake document.
- This was after he was found with a fake alien identity card.
An Ethiopian national was sentenced to 31 years in prison for trafficking 12 fellow Ethiopian immigrants in Nairobi.
Yibekal Gatachew alias Adinan Mohamed Galano was sentenced by a Kahawa West Law Court following his arrest on November 3, 2021, in Ngumo estate, Nairobi.
During the arrest, 12 Ethiopian nationals were found emaciated and chained in a room as they waited to be repatriated to a different country while headed for South Africa.
Gatachew was also sentenced to an additional year for acquiring a fake document.
This was after he was found with a fake alien identity card.
The immigrants were later repatriated to Ethiopia.
Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin said the sentencing was a warning to a gang behind a series of human smuggling and trafficking from Ethiopia through Kenya to either South Africa or the Middle East.
He said police are on alert to tame the trend which is now on the rise.
“We also urge communities to help us tame this vice by reporting those behind the trend,” he said.
This came as police detained 30 more Ethiopians in Eastleigh, Nairobi for being in the country illegally.
They were found in a room at Teachers’ Plaza as they waited to be moved to a different location, police said.
The 20 men and 10 women had difficulties in communicating with police at the time of their arrest, officials said.
This is the latest such arrest to happen in a series affecting Ethiopians in transit to various countries.
Last week, police detained 26 women of Ethiopian origin after being found in an unfinished house in a village in Muranga County.
Villagers in Kwambirwa called the police and informed them the group had been confined in the house and were being fed at night.
A team of police led by county commander David Mathiu visited the area and found the women aged between 22 and 32 in the house armed with their passports in the Monday, September 4 evening incident.
They told police they were headed for South Africa for greener pastures and that a smuggler who took them there was missing.
Police said they recovered the 26 passports and 16 mobile phones from the women.
Police said they are investigating cases of human smuggling and that those detained will be taken to court ahead of planned deportation.
It is not clear how long they had been there.
Last month, 71 other Ethiopians were arrested in Athi River while waiting to be moved to an unknown destination.
Officials said the 38 male adults and 33 male juveniles were arrested after they were found loitering at Magorofani area off Mwananchi Road in Syokimau, Athi River East subcounty.
Dozens of Ethiopians are arrested in the country as they try to use this route to other places like Tanzania, the Middle East and South Africa.
Police and immigration officials have decried increased cases of Ethiopian aliens nabbed in the country while in transit.
Officials from the Transnational Organized Crime are conducting joint operations to deal with the issue of human smuggling.
Tens of Ethiopians are annually arrested in Kenya while in transit and later deported. Most of those arrested come to Kenya to seek jobs or are in transit.
What is puzzling is how the immigrants manage to evade many police roadblocks mounted from the Moyale border where they use to Nairobi.
There are more than 20 roadblocks on the stretch, which raises the seriousness of the security agents taming the practice.