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Tendai Rupapa Harare Bureau
POLICE over the weekend arrested a Kuwaiti national and senior embassy official believed to be part of a human trafficking syndicate that is luring female job seekers to Kuwait on the pretext that they have secured decent employment, when, in actual fact, they are being sold into prostitution and menial jobs.

Brenda Avril May, 62, a secretary at the Kuwaiti Embassy in Harare, is suspected to have been facilitating or processing visas for the victims, who are now stuck in the Arab emirate.

Over 200 Zimbabwean women are believed to be stranded in Kuwait after being promised jobs.

May was released yesterday after being interviewed by the police.

A source from the Prosecutor General’s office said there were certain procedures that the police should comply with before summoning an embassy official to court.

Detectives handling the case picked her up for questioning after she had been implicated as the one facilitating the documentation of the desperate job seekers and payment processes.

Police yesterday confirmed the arrest saying investigations were still in progress.

Meanwhile, seven locals who appeared in court last week on charges of human trafficking, were yesterday released on $300 bail each.

As part of their bail conditions, Elijah Makomo ordered them to surrender their passports and to report to the police once a week.

They were also ordered not to interfere with witnesses and investigations, and to reside at their given addresses until the matter is finalised.

Makomo remanded them to April 7.

Lucia Chibayambuya, 26, her brother Lawrence Chibayambuya, 23, Faith Magora, Josephine Gondo, 57, Tonderai Gondwa, 26, Fadzai Nyahondo, 19, and Edgar Gora all face human trafficking charges.