Police searching for owner of Lombardy East property where 30 suspected human trafficking victims escaped from

JOHANNESBURG - Police are investigating a case of suspected human trafficking and searching for the owner of a house where more than 30 Ethiopian nationals escaped on Wednesday morning.

Police spokesperson Mavela Masondo said that officers were called to Lombardy East in Johannesburg after the foreign nationals, some half-naked, were seen running on the streets and some hiding at a local shop after the escape.

Masondo said they had broken down the door of the house and broken the windows, indicating they were kept against their will.

Police are also investigating how the foreign nationals gained entry into the country.

"We found out that they are all from Ethiopia and a preliminary investigation led us to a house still here in Lombardy East, where it is alleged that these people were kept against their will. For now, we've kept them as illegal immigrants. So we are still trying to establish how they got into our country. We suspect that they were being held against their will."