Police officers in Athi River have arrested two women, foiling a child-trafficking deal in Mlolongo, Machakos County.
One of the suspects, Diana Mwende, reportedly attempted to sell her 2-week-old son for Ksh.60,000.
Mlolongo Division Assistant County Commissioner Dennis Ongaga confirmed the incident, saying they had laid a trap for the two women following a tip-off from the public.
Several police officers then had posed as customers who wanted to buy the baby boy catching the two pants down,
The two were thereafter arrested and taken to the Mlolongo Police Station, pending further investigations into the matter.
The infant was handed over to a rescue centre in Kitengela.
Speaking to the media, Ongaga said police investigations have revealed that girls below the age of 18 are also involved in the business.
Their peers are said to be women above the age of 30 years who ask them to pose as house helps where they then abduct kids.
Recently Sheila Nyaboke, a resident in Kisii County was distraught after her baby was kidnapped by a passenger she travelled with from Nakuru to Kisii County.
Nyaboke narrated that on arrival at the Kisii bus terminus, a passenger who was seated next to her in a matatu followed her and requested to help with the baby as the mother was using the washroom.
At the washroom, CCTV cameras captured both Nyaboke and the woman, as they took turns holding the baby.
Afterwards, they got back in the matatu with the friendly woman offering to buy Nyaboke’s seven-month-old baby some juice.
“She told me that the juice that was being hawked was not healthy and opted to go to the shop with my baby, where she said she would buy the juice,” an emotional mother explained.
The woman then went with the baby under the guise of buying juice, only for her to disappear.
