An intelligence report seen exclusively by the Saturday Standard details the sordid journey of five Kenyans from the relative calmness of their homes to the rough and tumble world of the Libyan slave market where, together with thousands of other African immigrants, they were sold to the highest bidder.
The five, through an elaborate trafficking route set out and charted by one of Libya’s most notorious and feared smuggling groups, the Magafe Network, left Nairobi and embarked on a journey that would change their lives forever. The ended up on the dusty, windy Libyan desert where they were sold for next to nothing, leaving their families in turmoil and concern.
“The Magafe Network lures unsuspecting and naïve youth under the pretext of offering employment and money while others are enticed by the Jihad narrative and the fight for a Muslim caliphate,” the report reads. “Once they successfully have the gullible candidates, they link them up with the Kenyan associates of the Magafe Syndicate based in Eastleigh who would later transport them through their various routes to Libya.”
The five, excited by the promise of thrill, monetary gains, a life of freedom and relative abandon as members of terror group ISIS, left Nairobi through one of the most common and most profitable trafficking routes for recruiters.
With the allure of a renegade life beckoning, they left Nairobi and headed to Busia by road. They then crossed over to Uganda and made their way to Kampala before snaking into Juba in war-torn South Sudan. Their next destination was Khartoum before eventually making it to Libya.
However, the promises of the life they envisioned was not to come. The harsh Libyan climate and an arduous training regime by the terror group saw them lose favour in the eyes of their would-be employers.
“They were found to be no longer useful to the terror group and eventually sold off in the slave markets,” the intelligence report says. “It is believed that the fallout was not only as result of the Kenyans not being able to easily adapt to the harsh weather conditions but also from the fact that some of them wanted out.”
Once one joins the groups, they cannot leave voluntarily.
