A total of 18 Jordanians who violated laws and regulations in Kenya were arrested upon their arrival in Jordan, an official source in the Interior Ministry told Roya Sunday.

They returned to Jordan on Friday, Sept. 9.

The official spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry Haitham Abu Al-Foul said that the Kenyan authorities in Mombasa contacted the Jordanian embassy in Nairobi last Friday about the arrest of a number of people who said they were selling things. However, Kenyan authorities arrested them on charges of begging.

According to the Foreign Ministry, only one person remains in Nairobi.

Earlier, Police in Kenya had issued a statement regarding the arrest of over a dozen of Jordanians on Tuesday for violating laws and regulations in this eastern African country, some 3700 kilometers away from their homeland.

“Officers from the Central Police station received information that there were people of foreign origin in the streets begging,” a police spokesperson said after the mass arrest.

He added that the police found 40 foreigners; 19 adults and 21 children all of whom were begging.

“Upon finding them, they were taken to the police station for interrogation and were found to be of Jordanian origin who had tourist visas,” the spokesperson said.

After the police statement was issued, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Society for Justice and Peace, Dr. Tariq Anani, told Roya that the association bailed the Jordanians out. Anani added that they were given a five-day deadline until all travel procedures were arranged. They must travel before Friday, Sept. 9, he said.