Written by Shillah Mwadosho 2012-05-06 15:39:00 Read 566 Times

The nine aliens arrested in Kapsabet.

Nine foreigners believed to be of Somali origin are being held by Kapsabet police after they were arrested on Saturday.

However, an unknown number travelling in another van managed to escape after it sped off.

Kapsabet OCPD Nelson Okioga and DCIO Samson Iha Thoya said that the nine foreigners were intercepted on Saturday afternoon at Chepsonoi trading centre in Nandi Central district.

Documents confiscated by police indicated that the foreigners had used a plane from Mogadishu in Somalia to Entebbe in Uganda before arriving at Kakamega in unclear means.

Four valid visas from Uganda and a Somali electronic national identity card were confiscated from the nine foreigners.

Okioga said that the arrested persons who were being transported by a courier of one of the media companies in the country were destined to Nairobi.

“We do not know their mission in the country because there is a problem with communication. They only speak Somali,” Okioga said.

Okioga explained that the nine would appear in court on Monday to face charges for being in the country illegally while the driver who is also in custody would be required to give an explanation over his conduct.

He said, “The nine arrested do not have documents that indicated that they are refugees. We are yet to know what they want in the country.”

He said that police have been instructed not to spare couriers and ambulances in their road checks to ensure that such incidences of “smuggling” are not spared.

“The van that the police intercepted would be used as an exhibit until when the court sets it free,” he said.

Thoya called on members of the public to monitor any form of suspicion of such kind since the country was on high alert over Al-Shabaab terrorists.

“We have to be vigilant at this moment since the country is fighting Al-Shabaab militia using every means possible to invade the country,” Thoya said.

The incident saw several Somali people living in Kapsabet arrive on Sunday morning at the police station to check on the arrested persons.

Okioga said that the arrival of Somali people to the police station gave a hint that there was a possibility of a network with the arrested nine.

“We are investigating if they had made arrangements together with those living in this town,” he said during an interview at his office.

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