The government is grappling with a rising wave of human trafficking syndicates originating in Northern Kenya, which have become corridors for criminal networks smuggling migrants, weaponry and narcotics towards Nairobi and beyond.
There are rising cases of foreigners using fake documents to access the country through Moyale-Samburu-Isiolo highway, and often use the bushy Barsaloi-Maralal road to avoid detection.
Intelligence reports show that the mode of operation by the suspects was being used by terrorist groups to sneak into the country with the intent to commit serious offences.
For instance, foreigners from Ethiopia and Eritrea have been previously charged in several courts in Marsabit, Maralal, Isiolo, and even Meru for being in the country unlawfully.
Murkomen accuses Kerio Valley professionals of smuggling guns for bandits
During the previous court proceedings on the cases, courts were told that criminal networks were exploiting porous borders and the region’s remoteness to smuggle victims—mostly women and children—into the country.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, while on a tour of Samburu last week, admitted that cases of human trafficking and smuggling of drugs and narcotics are rampant along the Moyale-Marsabit-Samburu- Isiolo highway, and that perpetrators are targeting Nairobi City.
The CS further revealed that criminals are particularly using Samburu County as a conduit route in a bid to avoid detection.
"Samburu County is a victim of human trafficking along with drugs and narcotics happening along the highway," the CS said.
"We have reports that they are using Samburu as a route, and the barons are targeting Nairobi," he added.
Mr Murkomen said that the state is seeking to dismantle the network of well-connected barons who are behind human and drug trafficking syndicates along the route.
"Our security officers have done a good in arresting a number of this drug barons and aliens that are being trafficked in this region. We will intensify the operations to dismantle these networks," the CS said.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen speaks to the media at Nandi County Commissioner's office in Kapsabet on July 24, 2025.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
In April, when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Administration and Internal Security, Mr Murkomen told lawmakers that the government was planning to establish a special unit to fight human trafficking in parts of northern Kenya.
Murkomen stated that the mandate of the anti-human trafficking unit will be to enforce labour migration regulations. The CS told the MPs that the rising problem of human trafficking was a challenge that required an all-of-society and multi-agency approach to curb.
"We have already strengthened the fight against this vice and are looking to establish a special anti-human trafficking unit," Murkomen told the Committee in April.
Previously, the Organised Crime Index placed Kenya as a well-used trafficking route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
The government is also grappling with the alarming ease of access to sophisticated firearms and ammunition by bandits and cattle rustlers in northern parts of the country —a situation that has continued to undermine efforts to restore security in troubled areas.
As gun attacks persist in some areas, especially the North Rift Valley, security authorities are now scrambling to unravel the supply chains that are thought to be fueling the crisis, with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen calling on intelligence officers to track down the sources of these illegal weapons and the supply of ammunition.
The endemic banditry incidents have now exposed potential loopholes in the control of firearms, with reports suggesting that criminals are acquiring high-calibre weapons and bullets with disturbing ease.
"You find sometimes they (bandits) possess sophisticated guns than security officers. We have previously recovered M16, AK-47, G3 and Carbine Mark II from bandits. While we continue to recover these sophisticated rifles, these criminals seem to have an endless supply," said a senior security officer who, however, declined to be named.
Past reports also linked the proliferation of firearms from cross-border smuggling from porous borders with neighbouring countries like Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia.
"We need to go for those who are selling the ammunition whether rogue police officers, whether they are coming from cross-borders or even unscrupulous tradesmen," said Murkomen.
"Things like ammunition are not sold anyhowly. They are supplied in a restricted manner. We need to know how they get into the hands of bandits," he added.
The increased proliferation of sophisticated automatic rifles has compounded misery in the troubled North Rift region, where criminals possess AK47 guns, M16 rifles and even G3 guns with ammunition magazines.
