The Directorate of immigration at Malaba border, Eastern Uganda is investigating a Kenyan taxi driver who was arrested on charges of trafficking six Ethiopian nationals into Uganda.
The arrest follows an alert by the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration control following reports of a criminal syndicate which has led to an influx of Ethiopians crossing into Uganda.
Addressing the press, Agnes Igoye, the deputy chair of the National Prevention of Trafficking in Persons in the ministry of Internal Affairs said that on Sunday immigration officers at Malaba border flagged down a suspected trafficker.
“ A Kenyan matatu driver called Linus Omyeno showed up with eight passports of Ethiopians including four men and four women requesting for clearance,” she said
“He was arrested and the passports were confiscated. He was handed over to immigration for questioning,” Igoye added.
Meanwhile, security has also intercepted six more Ethiopians at Malaba border post. The group claims to be traveling to Beirut through Entebbe International Airport.
Igoye said that the National Prevention of trafficking in Persons department is determined to defeat the new criminal syndicate which is attempting to use Uganda as a transit route for trafficking Ethiopians.
“We have been doing a lot of cross border training of customs officers from both Uganda and Kenya and now we are going to engage with our counterparts from Ethiopia to ensure referral and investigations are done in a proper manner,” she said.
Relatedly, police of Busia also rescued a total of eleven Ugandan girls who were reportedly being trafficked into Kenya.
The girls were rescued from a house in Busiwondo village in Dabani county where they had sheltered for months by traffickers.
