Suspects of Eritrean human traffickers being flushed out of their hideout in Nairobi. Police say keeping lost people has same charges to human trafficking. [Photo|EastaFro]
Any person who will be found over the charge of a lost person regardless of their age prior to notifying the police, he/she risks being charged with human trafficking. This is according to a statement by the Officer commanding Githunguri police station (OCS) Inspector Tusker Opondo.
No harm intended but it is a crime to keep a child or any person who is reportedly lost. According to Githunguri police station OCS, Tusker Opondo, under the circumstance that one finds a lost person, the first action is to seek police’s authorization before offering custody.
Opondo was speaking in his office while recording a statement from a couple who had generously put up a homeless girl in their house with plans to report the case the next day to the local children’s development office.
“It is the duty of any host to first report to the nearest police station for police officers to interrogate the concerned person for security reasons. In so doing, it will help to trace the relatives of the lost person and also ease any inconveniences the family may be going through in tracing the whereabouts of the lost person as fast as possible,” emphasized the OCS.
The lost and found girl, according to the couple, she had been chased out of a children’s home located in Lari area.
“The officers who handle gender issues at Githunguri police station will first record statements from the couple after which the same will be handed over to the police in Lari because the affected girl is originally from Lari,” affirmed Opondo.
The lost 13-year-old girl was later sent to Mary Muthumbi, who is the Limuru-Lari sub-counties Children’s officer. The decision was reached at after the Kiambu County’s Children Coordinator Peter Kabwagi gave the directive.
The girl was later handed over to the Children’s officer in charge of Limuru/Lari sub-counties Mary Muthumbi after consultations with the children county coordinator Peter Kabwagi after the children’s home declined to take her back accusing her of causing them problems of tracking her.
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