By Staff Writer
A combined team of Immigration Officers from Chipata Regional Immigration Office and Petauke Immigration Office, with the help of other security wings and the Petauke District Administration, has apprehended two Zambians in connection with the suspected smuggling of 15 Ethiopians.
The Officers were following up on a tip-off from a concerned member of the public when they raided an unfinished house in Petauke District’s Tasala 10 Area reported to have been housing suspected illegal immigrants.
Immigration Public Relations Officer Namati Nshinka said when they arrived at the house at around 13:30 hours on December 13, 2023, they found 15 undocumented Ethiopian nationals aged between 15 and 29 years who were in the custody of a 29-year-old Petauke Resident Bernard Phiri.
Mr Nshinka said a second Zambian, Donald Njobvu 35 of Chipata’s Magazine Area, was later nabbed at Petauke ECG shop after he attempted to communicate with Bernard Phiri regarding the Ethiopians.
He said all suspects are detained at Petauke Correctional Centre pending further investigations.
Meanwhile, the Lusaka Regional Immigration Office apprehended 68 suspected illegal immigrants in separate clean-up operations conducted on 9 and 11 December 2023 in various parts of Lusaka.
Mr Nshinka said the areas visited were the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) compound, Chilenje, Libala, and Kabwata. Other areas were Kamwala South, Lilanda, Chunga, and SOS.
He said those apprehended were 52 Burundians, the majority operating grocery shops, six Congolese, three Tanzanians, and One Somali.
The team also apprehended six Zambians, five of them for obstruction and one for possession of suspected psychotropic substances.
All suspects are detained pending further screening and possible prosecution, while the Zambian found with suspected psychotropic substances has since been handed over to the Drug Enforcement Commission.
The Petauke and Lusaka incidents brought the number of persons apprehended for various immigration offences countrywide between 8th and 13th December 2023 to 237.
During this period, the Department secured 53 convictions and removed 77 illegal immigrants from the country.
