By JULIUS PHIRI and REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Immigration Department in Chipata District in Eastern Province has rounded 10 Malawians for trading without valid documents.
Six of the 10 immigrants who were nabbed on Monday have since been removed from Zambia.
Immigration Department spokesperson Namati Nshinka said yesterday that the Malawians were arrested following a screening exercise conducted by officers in the district.
Mr Nshinka said the foreign nationals were conducting their businesses in Zambia without business endorsements on their passports.
He said four were still detained in police custody awaiting court appearance.
Mr Nshinka said the four only had border passes.
He said Zambia was attracting a large number of foreigners because of the boom in the business sector.
He, however, appealed to the foreign nationals to always get clearance from the relevant authorities before they set up their businesses in Zambia.
Last week, three Malawians were arrested at Gondar Barracks for unlawful entry in the country.
The Immigration Department has also arrested nine people from the Democratic Republic of Congo at Katima-Mulio for attempting to cross into Namibia without proper documentation.
Mr Nshinka said in a statement that the nine Congolese who included five children were intercepted at Katima-Mulilo border last Sunday as they attempted to cross into Namibia without visas to enter into that country.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Congolese entered Zambia legally through Kasumbalesa border post.
On their way to Namibia, they engaged a Zambian taxi driver, William Lisulo of Sesheke and opted to bypass immigration authorities on the Zambian side since they did not have visas to enter Namibia.
The immigration officers alerted their Namibian counterparts who refused the illegal immigrants entry into Namibia and handed them over to the Immigration Department on the Zambian side.
The Immigration Department also arrested a Zambian for engaging in unlawful immigration consultancy on Monday.
Gift Mbewe, 28, a resident of Chawama Township in Lusaka is alleged to have offered immigration consultancy services to four foreigners to acquire visas on their behalf.