NAIROBI, KENYA (APA) – The Kenya police in the Eastern province on Tuesday arrested 65 Ethiopian youths along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway in a suspected human trafficking syndicate, the state owned television, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), reported.
The aliens who had no proper identification papers were packed in a 20feet container when police intercepted the trailer carrying the container at Machakos district in eastern Kenya, (70km south-east of Nairobi).
Police had been tipped about the illegal consignment by a member of the public who heard the yells of the aliens as they hit the walls of the container on the bumpy road, KBC reported.
The area police chief, Patrick Lumumba, was quoted saying that the youths were tightly packed amid the sweltering heat and they could be heard screaming inside the container meant for transit good every time the trailer hit a bumpy part of the road.
While questioned, the Ethiopians said that they were escaping from unemployment from their home country and were heading to South Africa en-route Kenya.
They revealed that another group of 200 Ethiopian youths had used similar tricks to migrate to South Africa, adding that relatives living there had helped them to get jobs in the country.
The youths aged between 20 to 28 years claimed they hail from Southern Ethiopia and were all jobless.
Police have launched investigations into the matter, saying it is unclear how they managed to cross over the border into Kenya without the necessary documents.