THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN NABBED, TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE DETAINED IN LUSAKA JOINT CLEAN-UP OPERATION
Lusaka… Thursday September 5, 2024
The Department of Immigration has detained a total of 283 suspected illegal immigrants of different nationalities pending further screening and prosecution following a clean-up operation conducted yesterday, 4th September, 2024 in various parts of Lusaka.
The operation was done in conjunction with the Zambia Police, Drug Enforcement Commission and National Anti- Terrorism Centre.
Those initially apprehended during the operation which began at 05:00 hours were 357.
These were 207 Burundians, 61 persons who claimed to be Zambian citizens, 53 Congolese, 10 Rwandese, six Tanzanians and four Malawians.
Others were two Eritreans, two
Indians, two Zimbabweans, one Egyptian, one Lebanese and one Pakistani.
After preliminary screening conducted at Edwin Imboela Stadium, 68 persons, the majority of them Zambians were released unconditionally, six were requested to report to Immigration Offices for further formalities while two Zambians apprehended for drug-related offences were handed-over to the Drug Enforcement Commission.
The Department also took a total of 40 bicycles which were abandoned by their owners who decided to flee upon seeing the Law Enforcement Officers, for safe keeping.
The Department wishes to thank members of the public for their cooperation during this operation which contributed to it being successful and incident free.
The Department also wishes to thank all law enforcement agencies which took part in the operation for their continued collaboration and immense support in assisting the Department rid the country of illegal immigrants.
Namati H. Nshinka (Mr)
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
255282/pro@zambiaimmigration.gov.zm
Some Laws in place benefit some selfish immigration officers.They allow the foreigners to come in at a fee ,warn them and alert them to hide and close their shops when law enforcement teams fling into action .This trend has been persistent for a long time especially here in Lusaka.We see foreigners closing their shops before immigration officers come .ZICTA has this data cos communication between foreigners and selfish officers occur through mobile phones. For me I find nothing wrong allowing Rwandese and Burundians,Eritrean somalians come and stay in Zambia as long as they do their business to sustain themselves and obey laws of the land.So no Officers should be allowed to be milking these people. They are also struggling to make ends meet.That is my take…
Security-wise, Zambia is a very vulnerable country like most African countries with lots of unplanned settlements where no local authority knows who owns what property and who’s living in it. It’s so easy to stay under the radar in Zambia. You can go to Katuba where corruption in land deals is the order of the day. You can buy land, build a house and lie low there. I do not understand why the Ministry of Lands, the Commissioner of Lands, the Ministry of Home Affairs & Internal Security do not see the fast-growing unplanned settlement in Katuba as a big public security risk. Moral suasion by the Katuba intelligentsia has failed to make the village heads see the light.