The Department of Immigration has detained a total of 283 suspected illegal immigrants of different nationalities pending further screening and prosecution following a clean-up operation conducted yesterday, 4th September 2024 in various parts of Lusaka.
The operation was done in conjunction with the Zambia Police, Drug Enforcement Commission and National Anti-Terrorism Centre.
Immigration Public Relations Officer, Namati Nshinka told RCV News in a statement that those initially apprehended during the operation which began at 05:00 hours were 357.
“These were 207 Burundians, 61 persons who claimed to be Zambian citizens, 53 Congolese, 10 Rwandese, six Tanzanians and four Malawians,” said Mr. Nshinka.
Mr. Nshinka said that others were two Eritreans, two Indians, two Zimbabweans, one Egyptian, one Lebanese and one Pakistani.
He said after preliminary screening conducted at Edwin Imboela Stadium, 68 persons, the majority of them Zambians, were released unconditionally, six were requested to report to Immigration Offices for further formalities while two Zambians apprehended for drug-related offences were handed-over to the Drug Enforcement Commission.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nshinka said the Department also took a total of 40 bicycles which were abandoned by their owners who decided to flee upon seeing the Law Enforcement Officers, for safe keeping.
He has since thanked members of the public for their cooperation during the operation which contributed to it being successful and incident free.
By Margaret Mwanza
