By Staff Writer
The Mpika Immigration Office has detained 30 suspected Ethiopian nationals for failure to appear before the nearest Immigration Officer on entry and a 44-year-old Tanzanian Truck Driver, Shamte Kasim Samata, for aiding and abetting the Ethiopians.
Immigrations Public Relations Officer Namati Nshinka said the suspects were handed over to the Mpika Immigration Office by Police after Police Officers intercepted a containerised Truck and Trailer Registration numbers AIE2300 and AIE2464, respectively, driven by Samata on 13th October 2023.
Mr Nshinka said the Officers discovered the 30 suspected Ethiopians, aged between 20 and 29, hidden in the cooking-oil-laden Container of the truck.
He all suspects are detained at Mpika Correctional Facility pending prosecution, and the Mpika Immigration Office has issued a seizure notice for the Containerised Truck and Trailer.
Mr Nshinka said the Mpika incident brings the number of persons apprehended by the Department of Immigration between 10th and 18th October 2023, to 394.
Meanwhile, the Lusaka Regional Immigration Office, on 13th October 2023, removed 61 illegal immigrants from the country, most of them after serving prison sentences for illegal entry and unlawful stay.
Similarly, the Kasama Regional Immigration Office on 12th October 2023 removed 22 Burundians, two Tanzanians, and one Rwandese from the country after the group was intercepted on a Lusaka-bound Public Service Bus on October 10, 2023 at Nkole Mfumu Checkpoint when they failed to provide information of their host in Zambia.
The Lusaka and Kasama removals bring the number of persons removed from the country between 10th and 18th October 2023 to 132.
Further, the Department of Immigration, between 10th and 18th October 2023, secured 70 convictions and refused entry to 32 foreign nationals for failing to meet entry requirements for Zambia.
