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Concern over rising human smuggling cases in Marsabit

Some of the foreigners from Eritrea who were arrested at a roadblock in Laisamis town in Marsabit on March 26, 2024. (Waweru Wairimu)

By Waweru Wairimu | 27 Mar 2024

Many of them access the country via the porous Kenya-Ethiopia border disguised as visitors without required travel documents.

Security agencies in Marsabit County have raised concern over the rise in human smuggling cases in the region, where more than 50 immigrants have been arrested in the last two months.

The latest to be arrested are 19 illegal immigrants from Eritrea who were intercepted last evening around 6:30 PM in Laisamis town enroute Nairobi by police officers manning a roadblock.

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They were in the company of two Kenyans, Konse Churko and Barrack Alkano, in a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle. A Marsabit court released the pair on Wednesday on a Sh500,000 bond or Sh3 million cash bail.

The immigrants could not take a plea due to the lack of an interpreter, forcing the court to push it to Thursday.

Last Sunday and Monday this week, the government arrested twelve Ethiopian nationals without valid passes while they were visiting the Dabel gold mine, which it had recently closed due to clashes that left seven people dead and several injured.

The five foreigners who were arrested on Sunday within Hilo mine were in possession of four generators, a rock crusher, and drillers, among other machines, according to police sources.

Kenyans Abdi Rashid Ali and Salad Ibrahim Hussein arrested 40 Eritrean nationals in Maikona, North Horr constituency, mid-January this year. After pleading guilty to ferrying the Eritreans, the two received a fine of Sh1 million each.

Marsabit County Police Commander Nyambu Mwakio has raised concern over the re-emergence of human smuggling, which remains an eyesore in the region due to its proximity to the porous Kenya-Ethiopia border.

"We appeal to the judiciary to help us tame the vice by issuing deterrent punishment and sentences to those engaging in illegal business," the police boss said.

Of concern to the security organs is the growing trend of traffickers arming those ferrying immigrants, and cases of aliens forging documents.

A court in Isiolo last month sentenced a Congolese national to one and a half years in jail for forgery and unlawful presence in Kenya. On February 8, a public service bus arrested Kalala Mathieu Salambua at Merti junction in Samburu along the Isiolo-Moyale highway.

With intent to deceive, he presented a forged movement pass for refugees, purporting it to be genuine and issued by the Immigration Department.

The Ministry of Interior's Immigration Department four days later trashed the document, saying it did not originate from the office and was therefore fake.

The Congolese then claimed to have visited Kenya to check on her sick and expectant sister living in Moyale, who had allegedly separated from her husband.

According to police reports, the foreigners sneak into the country assisted by Kenyan nationals, and some of them turn out to be terrorists on a mission to identify targets for recruitment, attacks, and informants of insurgencies such as Al-Shabaab.

Many of them access the country via the porous Kenya-Ethiopia border, disguised as visitors without required travel documents, allegedly on a mission to seek jobs in Nairobi.