Zambia: Lusaka conducted a clean-up operation in which 45 illegal immigrants were arrested on June 18, 2024. The operation ran by the immigration department covered Chaisa, SOS, Matero, Chilenje, Baulen and Ibex Hill areas.
Reportedly, the Public Relations Officer of the Immigration Department – Namati Nshinka said that those who apprehended included 41 Burundians, two Egyptians and two Rwandese nationals.
Nshinka added further to his statement that all the suspected immigrants failed to produce documentary proof of legal immigration status and are currently detained by pending further screening.
PR Officer mentioned that a similar operation was conducted on June 11, 2024 in Ndola’s Chipulukusu, Mitengo, Pamodzi and Kansenshi. It was during this operation only those 15 Congolese nationals were apprehended.
As per the sources, the operations in Lusaka and Ndola brought the number of persons apprehended for various immigration offences between June 10 and June 17, 2024, to 297.
He reported further that the Mpika Immigration Office secured the conviction of Shane Harerimana, who is a Burundian aged 36, on June 11, 2024 for unlawful stay.
Harerimana was sentenced to pay a fine of K25,000 or face nine months of simple imprisonment. He was then nabbed on June 4, 2024, off a Lusaka-bound public service bus along the Nakonde-Lusaka Road after failing to produce documentation to prove his legal immigration status at an immigration checkpoint.
On the very same day, a Congolese national aged 45, Tshimanka Kwigomba was arrested in a similar manner and was also convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of K25,000 or nine months of simple imprisonment.
The Public Relations Officer emphasised that these court outcomes in Mpika brought the number6 of convictions secured by the Department of Immigration between June 10 and June 17, 2024, to 94.
Additionally, between June 10 and June 17, 2024 the Department of Immigration removed 157 illegal immigrants of various nationalities from the country.
The case included 22 Ethiopians who were removed on June 16, 2024 via Kenneth Kaunda International Airport after paying court fines for various immigration offences.