20 illegal immigrants deported after serving 10 months in jail

BY JOSEPH MCHEKADONA

At least twenty illegal immigrants of Bangladeshi origin will be repatriated home today after serving ten months in Tanzanian jails.

Briefing journalist yesterday in Dar es Salaam border control officer, Rovaita Mlosa said the immigrants were imprisoned for ten months instead of six as the two governments were processing their travelling documents.

According to Mlosa the illegal immigrants were captured in the country on their way to South Africa from Bangladesh.

“They are now ready to depart… we have all the traveling documents…we collaborated with the Bangladeshi consulate in the country which is under their embassy in Nairobi …” he explained and then went on to issue a caution.

“The immigration department alone cannot win this war against illegal immigrants but only through closer cooperation with locals…” The border officer stressed that illegal immigrants can be very dangerous and warned that they pose a serious problem to the country’s security.

The task is at best daunting. The border patrols have to monitor the 450kilometre Tanzania-Kenya border stretching from Kilimanjaro to Mara.

Most illegal immigrants are reported to be from Somalia and Ethiopia and that they cross over into the country mainly through Arusha en-route to southern African countries using unauthorised points of entry, she said.

Between January and June this year, 88 illegal immigrants were arrested and legal action taken against them. Overall, 328 illegal immigrants have been arrested in the past year. Out of them 153 were Kenyans while the rest were Somalis, Ethiopians, Ugandans, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Congolese, Sierra Leoneans, South Africans, Rwandans, Eritreans, Sudanese and Burundians.

From overseas they included illegal entrants from Jamaica China, India, Canada, Italy, USA and Germany.

While budget constraints still hamper and challenge the department, that reportedly needs at least 50 new recruits the force will soon start issuing temporary travel documents to people living near borders in an effort to facilitate easy movement of villagers in the neighbouring countries.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN (20/09/2012): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=46010