Police on Thursday arrested 49 suspected illegal immigrants, believed to be of Ethiopian descent, in Nairobi's Kayole and Huruma estates.

Thirty-one of the immigrants were arrested at a house in Komarock Phase 3 estate after resident Nyumba Kumi members alerted police.

According to police reports, the house's owner has not been identified.

"Orderly Officer Kayole, STAPOL Soweto, Duty Officer, Mugendi One, Duty NCO and Crime Aid rushed to the scene and found 31 people of Ethiopian origin aged between 14-35 years without any documentation in their possession in a mansion house whose owner was unidentified," read part of the statement.

"The suspects could not communicate in either English or Kiswahili or any other local language."

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The suspects have been detained at Kayole Police Station pending arraignment, while a manhunt for the house's owner is currently underway.

Further, the other 18 were apprehended in Huruma at a house within the Jonsaga area. Police believe they were destined for South Africa.

"At 1235 hours. acting on intelligence, STAPOL Huruma received information about a house within Jonsaga area suspected to be holding ground for aliens who are in transit to South Africa.”

"He mobilized his officers and they managed to stealthily access the house and therein they found eighteen aliens suspected to be of Ethiopian origin cramped together in a single room."

However, the trafficker managed to evade the police dragnet.

The 18 will be arraigned in court on Friday (tomorrow), where they will be charged with being in the country illegally.