SUSPECTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FISHED OUT

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 10:00:50 +0000

By Simon Muntemba

A COMBINED team of Immigration and Zambia Police over the weekend pounced on unsuspecting illegal immigrants and arrested a good number, fishing some from their dwelling places and shops.

Officers from the immigration department and the police swung into action last week on Friday in an effort to fish out illegal immigrants in Lusaka’s Mandevu and Matero East Township. The door-to-door operation on houses suspected to be habouring  illegal immigrants began in the early hours of Friday and lasted until mid-morning. In a dramatic scene, a Somali woman suspected to be an illegal immigrant was seen being interrogated by officers in plain clothes at Twafika Bakery much to the amusement of on-lookers.

The woman who tried to call her husband to come to her rescue was however quickly whisked away in a grey Nissan hard body 4×4. Her efforts were in vain as the no-nonsense officers forced her in their vehicle.

The scene attracted scores of passersby while those who had gone to buy bread at the bakery stopped to watch the uncompromising officers in action.

The Immigration officers who earlier stormed Twafika Bakery along Great North Road at Mandevu junction afterwards proceeded to Matero East at other selected spots where they continued their door-to-door search. Some Matero East residents welcomed the operation, saying the number of suspected illegal immigrants had risen in the area. Immigration Department public relations spokesperson Namati Nshinka confirmed yesterday that 18 people of different nationalities were apprehended. Mr Nshinka told the Daily Nation that those detained were Congolese, Indians, Rwandese, Syrians and Somalis. He said some of the detained foreigners failed to provide any documentation while others will have their documents verified with the Immigration Department head office in Lusaka. “Yes, the operation was conducted in Mandevu, Matero and light industrial area by our Lusaka regional office were a total of 18 people of different nationalities were apprehended. Those arrested included 7 Congolese, 5 Indians, 3 Rwandese, 2 Somalis and 1 Syrian,” Mr Nshinka said. Mr Nshinka said among the detained foreigners, 9 were still in police custody waiting to be charged because they failed to provide any documentation while others were released and told to report back to their offices so that their documents could be verified. Hardly a month passes without news about a dozen or more foreign nationals being arrested mostly for illegal entry or stay in Zambia or both. News of their illegal entry into the country in containerised trucks, among other unorthodox means of entry into the country, is perhaps not strange anymore.