JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
South African police said they rescued 90 Ethiopian migrants who were being held against their will at a property in Johannesburg.
Police carried out a search at
the property on Sunday for a person reported to have been kidnapped and
discovered the migrants, they said. Two people were arrested on suspicion of
kidnapping and human trafficking. The alleged kidnapping victim was also rescued,
police said Monday.
The Ethiopian migrants are
believed to have been illegally trafficked. They were packed into small rooms
and kept locked up, police said.
They were taken to a hospital
for medical care and the two suspects will face charges in court.
Authorities, including
Interpol, have raised concerns over the trafficking of Ethiopian migrants
through several southern African countries in an attempt to ultimately reach
South Africa. The migrants are often trafficked and kept in dangerous
conditions.
In 2020, at least 64 people
from Ethiopia were found dead inside a freight container in Mozambique. In
2022, the bodies of 30 Ethiopian migrants were found in a mass grave in Malawi.
That same year, the bodies of 27 Ethiopian men were found dumped in Zambia.
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