Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) have arrested two women suspected of running a child sex trafficking ring in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha.
The women were arrested on Tuesday, just a day after a BBC exposé revealed how girls as young as 13 are being forced into prostitution on the border between Nakuru and Narok counties.
The town is popular with long-distance truck drivers, who use it as a stopover point.
According to Nakuru County Commissioner Loyford Kibaara, the two women, who were tracked down, are now helping detectives to identify and arrest more suspects linked to child sex trafficking.
‘Following the BBC documentary that revealed a disturbing sex syndicate involving young girls in Mai Mahiu, detectives tracked down and arrested the two women. We have mounted a manhunt for more suspects involved in the illicit trade,” Mr Kibaara revealed on Tuesday.
The BBC programme exposed the dark secrets behind the trade, revealing that women known as ‘madams’ lure minors into underage prostitution.
The women allegedly sold the girls to the highest bidders, who were largely long-distance truck drivers transporting goods to Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BBC’s Africa Eye documentary, which aired on Monday, featured accounts of victims of child prostitution, after reporters spent months undercover in the key transport hub.
Two undercover investigators posed as sex workers wanting to learn how to become ‘madams’ and spent months infiltrating the sex trade in the town, gathering evidence of child exploitation.
The female perpetrators they encountered confessed on camera while claiming that prostitution in Maai Mahiu is like a cash crop, fuelled by truck drivers.
Governor Susan Kihika has said that her administration is working with the police to apprehend all perpetrators and ensure that victims undergo rehabilitation and receive psychological support.
‘Trafficking children is a criminal offence. I am happy that an arrest has been made while the investigation continues and more arrests are expected. We have zero tolerance for that kind of thing, especially when it affects our children. We are going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” said Ms Kihika.
