Manama: Security authorities in Kuwait have freed two women from Sierra Leone and arrested two men from Uganda for human trafficking.
The case emerged when the police received a tip-off about women being held by two Ugandans in an apartment in Salmiya, a district in the capital Kuwait City.
An investigation was launched and after securing a legal warrant, the police raided the flat where they found two Sierra Leoneans in a terrible state physically and morally, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Thursday, citing a security source.
The police also found bank notes, plane tickets and visa forms for several Africans.
The two women said that they were taken from their home country in West Africa to neighbouring Guinea overland after showing the authorities documents they were on their way to the Senegal further north.
The victims spent two weeks in Guinea before they ended up in Kuwait after promises from the Ugandans that they would be offered good positions and salaries of KD600 each.
However, the Sierra Leoneans were told in Kuwait that they would work as domestic helpers and when they refused, they were held inside the apartment, the source added.
“The two women were taken to an asylum centre to receive proper health care following the humiliations and pains they suffered from the two Ugandans and which lasted about one month since they were taken out of their home country and moved to Guinea then to a flat in Kuwait,” the source said.
“Investigations have revealed that the two Ugandans were trafficking in humans in partnership with accomplices in both Uganda and Guinea. They will be referred to the competent authorities for legal action.”
