9-09-2022 – The Department of Immigration has apprehended eight (8) Ethiopians and a Zambian for illegal entry and aiding and abetting, respectively. The Ethiopians were nabbed in the early hours of Thursday, 8th September 2022, in Chisamba after they failed to produce documentation to prove their legal immigration status in Zambia.
Earlier that day, Immigration Headquarters received information that a group of suspected illegal immigrants was on its way to Lusaka from Nakonde aboard a Grey Toyota Harrier Registration Number ALZ 7333, prompting the Office to alert Officers at Manyumbi Check Point. However, the immigrants diverted into the bush to avoid the Checkpoint.
A team of Officers from Lusaka was quickly dispatched to Chisamba to intercept the immigrants. Investigations soon revealed that the Driver of the Harrier had dropped the Ethiopians in a bush a few kilometers before the Katuba Toll Plaza, where they awaited another vehicle from Lusaka to pick them up and transport them to Lusaka.
After staging a stake-out of the area for close to 4 hours, the Officers spotted a Toyota Regius Registration Number AJC 6421 drive past them and branched off into the bush at around 03:30 hours. Suspecting he was being trailed, the Driver of the Regius turned off the Vehicle’s lights, preventing the Officers from seeing the vehicle’s precise location. Unknown to the Officers, the Ethiopians embarked on the bus, which suddenly joined the Great North Road and sped off towards Lusaka, setting a high-speed chase into motion.
To avoid the Police Checkpoint at Nine Miles, the Driver of the Regius took a left-turn onto Chikumbi Road, with the Immigration Vehicle right behind in full chase. Eventually, the Driver of the Regius drove over a fence of a named farm within the Chikumbi Area and diverted into the bush where he abandoned the vehicle, leaving the eight (8) Ethiopians behind. None of the Ethiopians had any documentation on them at the time. They are currently detained at Central Police Station pending prosecution, while the Toyota Regius has been impounded and parked at Immigration Headquarters.
Meanwhile, the Driver of the Toyota Harrier, now known to be Godwin Siame (39), was apprehended by the Kapiri Mposhi Immigration Office at Lwanshimba Checkpoint on his way back to Nakonde the same day at around 12:00 hours. The Driver of the Toyota Regius remains at large but efforts to arrest him, are ongoing. The apprehension of the Ethiopians and the Zambian Driver brings the number of arrests between 7th and 8th September 2022 to ninety-one (91).
In another development, the Department of Immigration, between 7th and 8th September 2022, removed fifty-nine (59) illegal immigrants from the country, including thirty-five (35) Ethiopians removed, on 8th September 2022 via Kenneth Kaunda International Airport for illegal entry and unlawful stay. During this period, the Department also secured twenty-eight (28) convictions.
We wish to urge members of the public to continue reporting suspected cases of illegal migration to the Department of Immigration.
