Four Kenyans Rescued From Commercial Sex Racket in India

Police in Chennai, India took action against hotels and motels in the area after an ordeal revealed a network of tragic events. 

As per a report by the Indian newspaper Daiji World on Tuesday, May 30th, two Indians were apprehended for coercing four Kenyan women into prostitution. Law enforcement personnel who were making their rounds late at night found a Kenyan woman wandering outside an accommodation after being cast out. The detectives, following their unearthed clues, went to the lodge to investigate further about the woman, but the staff distanced itself from any association with the lady. 

The police officers were distrustful and so arrested the manager and assistant. After questioning the duo, it was discovered that the Kenyan women had been detained at the lodge for a month and obliged to work as sex workers. Additionally, they found out that these women had entered India on a tourist visa, one of which had already expired.

“When police reached the lodge and enquired about the Kenyan woman, they feigned ignorance. On suspicion, police took the manager and his assistant into custody for questioning. The four women were discovered by the police to have been detained and forced into prostitution rings after being transported from their native Kenya to Chennai. The one woman's tourist visa had already expired when the four women arrived in Chennai on it,” the report read in part. 

Principal Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Roseline Njogu cautioned on May 17th that Kenyans were being taken advantage of by dubious agents who granted them tourist visas instead of the required work permits. This meant that no job was actually available overseas for the person, leaving them stranded with no option but to resort to doing odd jobs. 

"Another huge problem we have is human trafficking where you see an advert and apply and the Visas are processed in a strange way, you are given a tourist visa instead of a work permit. They even pay for your ticket and when you land you realise that there was no job," Njogu explained.