Immigration authorities in Kenya have arrested and deported a dozen Chinese nationals for engaging in prostitution in a suburb of the capital, Nairobi.

The immigration department said the arrests were made after an intelligence tip from private investigators. The Chinese were arrested in a clean-up swoop targeting wanted fugitives, human traffickers and other immigration violators.

The tip-off led to a raid on two houses on Wednesday morning: “The two residential houses are suspected to have been operating as brothels. During the operation, twelve (12) Chinese nationals – eight girls and four girls were arrested,” they said in a statement.

Our resolve to weed out criminal aliens from our country and streamline our immigration systems is as strong as ever. We would like to thank members of the public who have been cooperative hitherto in this respect.

One of the men was said to be on a May 2017 watch list for offences relating to prostitution and illegal gambling. He is said to have returned with a new identity after initial deportation.

“The twelve have been documented as prohibited immigrants and are being processed for deportation for not only violating our immigration laws but also breaching the fundamental standards of integrity with regards to working and doing business in Kenya,” the statement added.

The authorities also reported that a Kenyan national is due to be arraigned before court for his role in trafficking ten Ugandan women to the Middle East.

“Our resolve to weed out criminal aliens from our country and streamline our immigration systems is as strong as ever. We would like to thank members of the public who have been cooperative hitherto in this respect.”

The statement was issued by Alexander Muteshi, Director of Immigration Services. The current action comes weeks after a Chinese national was deported for referring to Kenyans as ‘monkeys.’ China has significant business interests in Kenya as across the continent.