Sports CS Rashid Achesa named in human traficking investigations as 8 Pakitani dancers arrested in Nairobi

CS caught in human trafficking investigations

Charles Ouma

January 5, 2019 10:11 AM

8 Pakistani dancers arrested in Nairobi club

File image of Nepalese strippers who were arrested in June 2018

Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Achesa has found himself at the center ongoing investigations following the arrest of 8 Pakistani nationals at a Nairobi club.

Defence lawyer Evans Ondieki told Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot that the eight ladies who were flown into the country as cultural dancers were in the country with the full permission of the CS.

According to the lawyer, each of the girls paid the Immigration Department Kshs 45,000 to be issued with the special passes allowing them to perform in the country until 18 January 2019.

Ondieki regretted that police had gone against the orders of the CS and pleaded with the court to release the 8 ladies on humanitarian grounds.

Sports CS Rashid Achesa Pulse Live Kenya

“On humanitarian grounds, I urge this court to release these girls as they have not bathed for the last one week, health rules require women to fresh up and bath as many times as they can afford,” Ondieki told the magistrate.

The Magistrate ordered that the ladies be taken to a safe House until 08 Jan 2019 to pave way for police investigations to establish whether they are victims of human trafficking.

Police raids at clubs

The ladies are expected in court on 08 January 2019 when the proprietor of Bella Bella Club, Safendra Kumar Sonwani, and his manager Mika Osichiro will be arraigned for prosecution of human trafficking.

In June 2018, police raided two popular strip clubs in Nairobi and rescued 21 female Nepalese strippers who were believed to be in the country illegally.

A statement shared by the DCI on its Twitter handle revealed that the 21 girls had been trafficked to Kenya for exploitation.

The officers were drawn from the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit and the Transnational Organized Crime Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Charles Ouma