How Police IG nominee Kanja plans to tackle drugs, human trafficking along Nairobi-Moyale route

Inspector General of Police nominee Douglas Kanja has vowed to ensure that no officer deployed along the Nairobi-Moyale route and in the surrounding areas stays in one location for more than three years.

This he said will help rid the region of drugs and human trafficking concerns raised by local leaders, a crime that has been abetted by officers who have served in the same station for a long time.

"It is true that drugs are being trafficked, human beings are getting trafficked along that route. If approved and appointed as IG, we need to look at the period officers have stayed in those areas. The police ACT and Service Standing Orders are very clear on that," Kanja said.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki popularised the policy this year, resulting in mass transfers of officers around the nation; nonetheless, leaders in Mandera continue to say that officers who have served in areas renowned for drug trafficking have stayed for over a decade.

Kanja said he would relook into the issue as a matter of priority once confirmed and appointed as IG.

Cases of officers' involvement in the crimes have been on the rise as illegal immigrants keep making their way into the country.

In February this year, the Internal Affairs Unit took over the probe into the alleged involvement of four junior police officers in the smuggling and trafficking of 37 Ethiopians into the country.

The four officers were arrested a few days before at a house in Githurai where the Ethiopians were being held illegally.

Their arrest happened during a multi-agency operation led by the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) of the DCI in collaboration with the regular police.

After their arrest, they claimed they were going after the foreigners who were suspected to be victims of human trafficking.

The incident happened barely a day after another group of 90 Ethiopians both underage and adults were arrested in an Isuzu canter at a roadblock in Imbirikani, in Kajiado.

According to police, the men and women had no identifying documents and ranged in age from 10 to 24 years.

The lorry's Kenyan driver stated that he had been approached by an unknown person in Nairobi to transport the group to someone identified as Ken.

The victims were searched and booked at the Imbirikani police station, while the driver was detained on human trafficking charges.