Two Years Later, Family Still Searching for Kenyan Man Who Vanished in UAE

More than two years after Kenyan national John Maina Wanjiru disappeared in the United Arab Emirates, his family is still seeking answers as official efforts have failed to establish what happened to him.

Maina moved to Dubai in May 2023 and worked as a telesales agent in Ajman. For more than a year, he spoke to his family every week, assuring them that he was safe and working towards a better future. The contact ended suddenly on 25 June 2024, when he stopped calling without explanation. 

Colleagues who were later deported to Kenya said Maina had been arrested during a security operation at Grand Ajman Mall. Unlike the others, he was not returned to Kenya.

Although Maina's UAE residence visa remained valid until February 2026, his family has been unable to trace him through police records, detention centres or deportation facilities. With support from friends and Kenyan officials, they contacted the Kenyan Embassy in the UAE, the State Department for Diaspora Affairs and Dubai Police's General Department of Criminal Investigations. 

Each enquiry produced the same response: there was no record of Maina being in custody. The case later reached Kenya's National Assembly. On 30 April 2025, MP Agnes Pareiyo raised the matter in Parliament and called on the government to intensify its efforts to establish Maina's whereabouts. Despite that intervention, no significant progress has been reported.

Maina's mother, Jacinta, travelled to the UAE in late 2025 to continue the search herself. She visited consulates, searched public areas and appealed for information through social media. During her visit, a security guard told her that everyone detained during the June 2024 operation had been transferred to Abu Dhabi.

However, no further information was available about Maina's whereabouts.

The family's search took another difficult turn when they were asked to provide DNA samples to compare with human remains found in the Dubai desert. The results confirmed that the remains were not Maina's. While this ruled out one possibility, it left the central question of his disappearance unanswered.

The family believes Maina may still be held in detention without charge or access to legal representation. They point to accounts from witnesses who said he was arrested, despite the absence of any official record confirming that he is in custody. The lack of information has left them unable to determine what happened after his reported arrest.

As the search continues, Maina's relatives say they remain hopeful that he is alive and continue to call for clear answers about his disappearance.