Detectives have rescued 60 human trafficking victims at an apartment within Tassia estate in Embakasi, Nairobi County.

The victims aged between 14 and 50 years-old were being trafficked from two countries that border Kenya for sale as slaves overseas against their will.

"After securing the perimeter of the premise, the perceptive officers gained entry into the apartment, only to be greeted with hysterical faces of the victims, inhumanely bundled up in one room," the DCI said.  

Three suspects of Somali origin were arrested on suspicion of being part of a larger human trafficking syndicate operating across the Horn of Africa.

They were identified as Mohammed Omar Aden, 29, Halima Mohammed Osman, 43, and 23-year-old Sala Yusuf. 

The rescue mission was executed by detectives based at DCI’s Transnational and Organized Crime Unit with support from their Embakasi-based counterparts. 

The operation followed intelligence reports as the officers were on a crackdown on illegal immigrants. 

Upon further inquiries, it was established that the 60 victims had been ferried to the location temporarily, as the traffickers sought alternative ways of transporting them outside the country undetected.

The victims and the suspects are currently being held at different police stations in Nairobi pending legal procedures. By Purity Wangui, The Star