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Forty-nine illegal Nigerian immigrants have been arrested by the police at a barrier near Banda in the Krachi-Nchumuru District of the Volta Region.

The Fulani immigrants, who had entered the country through unapproved routes, were on their way to Chinderi last Friday morning to settle and engage in cattle rearing when they were arrested.

The immigrants, made up of six men, 19 women and 24 children who had no proper documentation except individual identification cards, had travelled from Oyo State to Ghana in two trucks, carrying all their belongings including beds, cooking pots, mortar and pestle.

However, when they got to Dambai, they were abandoned by the drivers of the two trucks who did not want to cross the Volta Lake. 

They reportedly hired two Benz buses and were on the way to Chinderi when their vehicles were stopped by the police.

When the police checked their particulars, they discovered that they were illegal immigrants and subsequently arrested them.

According to their leader, Attik Alhaji Adam, they were invited into the country by one Alhaji Kaduna, residing in Accra to engage in cattle rearing.

A pregnant immigrant delivers
One of the two women among the group, who was in labour, was rushed to the Chinderi Clinic where she was said to have been delivered of a baby.

Following the orders of the Volta Regional Minister, Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, they were brought to the residency in Ho where a health screening, especially on Ebola was conducted by health officials while officers of the Ghana Immigration Service checked their documents.

In an interview with journalists, the minster said she had information from the District Chief Executive of Nchumuru that some Fulani herds-men who were travelling on two Benz buses had invaded his area.

According to her, because there was no place for them to sleep, she asked that they should be brought to the residency while investigations continued. The illegal immigrants arrived at the residency around 9:00 p.m. last Friday.

From Oyo State

Information gathered from the immigration officials indicated the herdsmen were from Oyo State, judging from their individual I.D. cards. 

However, they could not be allowed to stay because they did not enter the country legally, she indicated.

The minister, who stated that illegal migration was a threat to the security of a country and, therefore, must not be condoned in any serious country, said that, “after the health screening, they would be escorted to Aflao and handed over to Togolese authorities to be sent back to Nigeria’’.