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Some 19 Nigeriens were on Friday, May 29, arrested after a failed attempt to enter Burkina Faso through unapproved routes in Ghana.
Officials of the Ghana Immigration Service in the Upper West Region who confirmed the arrest to Dailymailgh.com said the ECOWAS nationals embarked on the journey from the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.
They were, however, arrested by on-duty officers around 8:20am at Beat Two, a known unapproved route at Hamile, on the Ghana-Burkina Faso border.
Public Affairs Director of the Immigration Service in the Upper West Region, ICO Ibn Yusif Duranah Abdul-Mumin told Dailymailgh.com they embarked on the journey for farming purposes.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that they were in Ghana and have been in the Ashanti region for sometime now. The migration was to sneak into Burkina Faso en route Niger for farming purposes,” he said in a statement.
The all-male migrants are aged between 14 and 43 years, said the Immigration Spokesperson adding that: “They were screened by the Port Health personnel and sent back to Kumasi and its environs on board a VIP bus with registration number GT 4356-16 at 1500hrs.”
Ghana has shut all its borders as the country desperately battles the Covid-19 pandemic. The measure was to prevent the spread of the virus since the country’s first cases were imported.
The country’s border operatives have also intensified security across its borders and have arrested a number of individuals who use illegal routes to enter and exit the country.
“Until otherwise decided, the President’s directive on the closure of our borders as part of the measures to combat covid-19 in Ghana remained enforced. Again, the unapproved routes linking neighbouring countries are inaccessible as it’s illegal.
“The Ghana Immigration Service wish to remind everyone, particularly sister Ecowas nationals that beyond the border closure, patronizing unapproved routes into and out of Ghana remained unlawful, illegal and must be upheld as such.
“The Immigration Officials manning the borders are more than prepared to end the menace irregular migration to and from Ghana. We call on well meaning Ghanaians to volunteer information to help secure our territorial borders,” the Upper West Immigration Spokesperson said.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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