Officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in the Upper West Region have arrested 15 illegal migrants comprising 12 Burkina Faso nationals and 3 Niger nationals.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the GIS Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul Mumuni, the ECOWAS migrants were arrested at the Hamile district Assembly barrier on board, a passenger bus with registration number GN-2357-10, adding that they were traveling to Techiman and Kumasi for farming business.
He said their investigation shows that the arrestees sneaked into Ghana through unapproved routes stressing that they were screened by health officials at the border before they were handed over to the Burkina Faso’s officials at the other side of the border to ensure their repatriation.
“At about 1850HRS the tactical night patrol team of the Ghana Immigration Service, acting upon intelligence, busted fifteen (15) irregular ECOWAS NATIONALS on board a passenger bus with registration number GN-2357-10 at the Hamile District Assembly Barrier. The migrants were destined for Techiman and Kumasi respectively for farming and business purposes. They comprised of twelve (12) Burkina Faso nationals were and three (03) Niger nationals. Their ages ranged between 02 and 53 years.
Our preliminary investigations revealed that the migrants sneaked into Ghana through unapproved routes.
The ECOWAS were screened by the Port Health Personnel before being handed over to the Burkina Faso authorities on the other side of the border at about 0720HRS on 20th August, 2020” Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul Mumuni stated in a press release copied to myradiowaa.com.
Ghana’s government closed it borders in March this year as a measure to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
