Wycliffe Magara: Interpol hunts Kenyan man over human trafficking

A man wanted in Kenya for trafficking persons to countries in Southeast Asia is now under the watch of the International Police (Interpol).

A red notice has been placed on Wycliffe Magara, 37, by the Interpol website indicating that he is wanted by Kenya for trafficking in person.

Last year, police said Magara was the main facilitator in the trafficking of job-seeking Kenyan youth to Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sought his arrest after recording statements from victims of the crime in August last year.

Magara is believed to have been colluding with locals and foreigners to lure unsuspecting Kenyan youth into the hands of traffickers using a recruitment agency located in Nairobi.

Unsuspecting Kenyans were dissuaded from taking fake teaching, sales, and customer care jobs, and were then sold into cyber slavery in Myanmar and Laos to work in 'factories' that in reality were committing cybercrimes, running brothels and aiding drug trafficking activities.

Some victims confessed to being trafficked to Thailand and later smuggled to Myanmar to work as cyber criminals, in what was tantamount to slavery.

Rose Mwikali, a victim who has since returned to Kenya, said those who couldn't work at the cyber cafes were subjected to prostitution as they were perceived as "useless" to the factory managers.

"They locked us up in a room for seven hours without communication and food and then asked us if we wanted to die or continue with work. We, of course, chose to live," she said.

Sometime last year, the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand said it was "overwhelmed" by distress calls on Kenyans getting duped into non-existent jobs in the Southeast Asian region by a suspected human trafficking cartel.

This was after it rescued Kenyans and citizens of neighboring countries from Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, where officials said they received distress calls from Kenyans stuck there.

The embassy said most of the victims were young women who would end up engaging in illegal activities, and 'dirty' jobs in Myanmar, a country now under the leadership of an isolated military junta.