Woman arrested while trafficking a minor in Kasarani
A woman is in police custody after she was arrested while allegedly trafficking a minor in Kasarani, Nairobi.
The woman, identified as Christine Masika, was arrested by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) along Eastern Bypass after a tip-off.
Acting on a tip-off, the officers expressed interest in purchasing the five-year-old baby boy for Sh400,000.
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The woman initially claimed that she found the child after being left with him by a woman she met on a bus, but according to the DCI, the woman had sold another child the previous week.
According to the police, the suspect was questioned before being placed in police custody pending her arraignment in court on Tuesday.
The police are now searching for the woman’s accomplices and previous clients. The rescued boy was taken to a safety center for care.
In January, a Tanzanian national who trafficked minors from his country to Kenya was jailed for 30 years.
While appearing before Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi at the Makadara Law Courts in Nairobi, James Sengo Nestroy was ordered to pay an Sh30 million ($241,000) fine or in default, serve the prison term for charges of economic exploitation and resisting police arrests.
Sengo, who has lived in Kenya since 2001, was arrested in 2022 following an exposé by BBC News Africa on the theft and sale of babies in Kenya.
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The court heard that the physically disabled minors were found harboured in the Kariobangi North estate and that Sengo had resisted arrest.
The trial magistrate ruled that it was heartless for Sengo to traffic an innocent child and, worse so, physically disabled and exploit his condition for personal economic gain.
The media investigations revealed that children stolen from Tanzania would be trafficked to Nairobi and Thika.
Many were taken from their parents with the promise of a better life.
Instead, the children were forced to beg on the streets for years while their captors took all of the proceeds.
Some victims alleged they were beaten if they did not make enough money.
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