By PHELILE MWANDILA –
THIRTY-TWO suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested during an operation in Solwezi, the Immigration department has said.
The immigrants who included 20 Tanzanians, eight Congolese, three from Burundi and one Rwandese, were rounded-up in Kyawama Township.
Immigration Department spokesperson Namati Nshinka said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday the foreigners were arrested for trading without immigration permits and unlawful stay and faced prosecution.
In other developments, the Lusaka Magistrates Court convicted 10 of the 149 detainees arrested last month in Lusaka’s Chibolya and Kabwata townships during a joint operation by the Zambia Police, Immigration and the Registrar of Societies.
Out of the 10 convicted, seven Congolese refugees had been sentenced to a fine of K 2,000 each or in default six months simple imprisonment for leaving their refugee camp without authority while three Rwandese refugees were slapped with a fine of K 300 each or in default two weeks simple imprisonment.
So far a total of 18 from the 149 detainees had been convicted while others would appear in court soon.
A Somali national was fined K1, 000 or a five months simple imprisonment in default of payment by a Ndola magistrates court for prohibited entry and stay, similarly a Congolese was charged K300 for abrogating immigration laws, while another Congolese faced similar charges and was fined K1, 000.
Meanwhile, the immigration regional office in Lusaka served three drivers from the Democratic Republic of Congo with notices to leave Zambia after their seven-days transit through the country expired.
Another truck driver from Tanzania was arrested in Kafue for unlawful entry.
Other arrests involved three Zimbabweans connected to a Police investigation involving the theft of motor vehicles and were handed over to the Kitwe Immigration Office and would be removed from the country.
A Nigerian had been convicted and fined K9, 000 or in default nine months simple imprisonment for unlawful entry by a magistrates court in Nakonde, while Immigration officers in the border town arrested four Congolese and a Malawian for illegal entry.