Kenya: Three Held as Police Raid Mosque, Find 35 Children

Kurgat Marindany

28 March 2011

POLICE in Kitengela yesterday raided an Islamic institution and arrested two Pakistanis and a Kenyan alleged to be in the centre of child trafficking syndicate.

A combined force of police officers, officials from the children's department, Ministry of Education and provincial administration led by DO Samuel Mburu raided Noonkopir Mosque in Kitengela and arrested the three and took into custody 35 emaciated children.

Shera Hassan and his wife Rukia Hassan, are alleged to be the local contacts for human traffickers in Pakistan, Qatar and other Arabian countries. The children at the centre, believed to be a breeding ground, are aged between five and 15.

Mburu said most of the children were trafficked into the country from Ethiopia and Somalia and cannot speak in Kiswahili or English. They could not even tell where they came from as most of them were brought in when they were as young as three.

Those who could speak in Kiswahili claimed they were given one meal a day and they are forced to stay indoors most of the times. They had also been instructed not to talk to strangers.

Police also found a freash grave next to the centre, an indication that there may have been some deaths at the centre. Mburu said the suspects had no identification documents and their countries of origin also remained suspect. The DO said the three will appear in court today on charges of child trafficking.