MAKUENI, Kenya, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police officers in Makueni County in eastern Kenya have launched a man-hunt for the driver who was involved in a deadly accident on Sunday in a human trafficking syndicate.
The police said Wednesday that Daniel Kaniu Kabusho was involved in an accident leading to the death of one Ethiopian national while two others were seriously injured.
"Two other Ethiopians who were passengers in the vehicle were seriously injured and are currently receiving treatment. The aliens were being illegally trafficked from Nairobi to Tanzania through the Taveta border," the police said in a statement.
The police said an Ethiopian national who was on board the salon car died in the accident while two others were seriously injured.
Kabusho escaped from the scene and is yet to be traced. The aliens told police they were being illegally smuggled from Nairobi to Tanzania through the Taveta border.
Police handling the matter revealed that Kabusho has been profiled as a human smuggler with a past criminal record.
He was arrested in March last year in Machakos County while ferrying 12 illegal immigrants of Ethiopian origin.
"While the case is ongoing, Kabusho was released on bail. Details of his criminal history were shared with the Asset Recovery Agency, and it was expected that the vehicle used to ferry the aliens would have been seized as an accessory to a crime," the police said.
"Oddly, the police released the ill-fated vehicle to Kabusho, allowing him to continue engaging in human smuggling," the police said.
The trafficking of illegal immigrants through Kenya remains a big security challenge to law enforcement agencies.
While the implications of this vice may not be obvious at face value, Kenya continues to be ranked poorly in the Global Trafficking in Persons Report, as a country watchlisted for its role (both active and passive) in human trafficking.
Police and immigration officials have decried increased cases of human smuggling in which Ethiopian aliens are nabbed in the country while on transit to either Tanzania or South Africa.
Cases of human smuggling have been on the rise in the region with hundreds of young men from Ethiopia finding their way into South Africa through Kenya in search of employment.
The majority of them cannot however communicate in English. What is puzzling is how the immigrants manage to evade many police roadblocks mounted from Moyale border near Ethiopia where they use to Nairobi.
There are more than 20 roadblocks on the stretch, which raises the seriousness of the security agents to tame the practice amid complaints of corruption in the security sector.
