At least 17 illegal immigrants were yesterday nabbed in Kaduna by the state’s command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, and promptly deported to Niger Republic, where they came from.
The illegals were arrested with 57 other commercial motor cycle riders, suspiciously living in uncompleted buildings in the Barnawa area of Kaduna metropolis.
Confirming the arrest, the Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service in the state, Hamman Yerima, said in his office in Kaduna that the men were arrested after a tip off from another security agency, but affirmed that no weapon was found on them. He however said that their main crime after from being illegal immigrants, was resisting arrest and injuring an NIS operative in the process.
“At about 5.00am, yesterday, my men carried out an operation in some uncompleted building along Uganda Road in Barnawa and arrested 77 persons suspected to be illegal immigrants.
“After interrogation and screening, we discovered that 57 of them are Nigerian who came to Kaduna from Kano, the FCT and other places to operate Okada business due to the ban on Okada operation in those places.
“We also discovered that the remaining 20 were from Niger Republic. However, three of them were found to be in procession of valid ECOWAS resident permit, while the remaining 17 had no documents at all.
“Non of the arrested men had any weapon on them after search on their persons and the buildings thoroughly.
“The 17 of them without proper documents would have been deported yesterday evening. Those with valid papers will be counselled before they are released to continue their legitimate business.”
“The service is doing everything within its powers and available resources to ensure that incidences of illegal aliens are reduced to the barest minimum.
“The porous nature of Nigerian borders has contributed to the number of illegal migrants in the country and I know that the Federal Government is working towards solving that problem
“I want to appeal to landlords within the state to beware of people who live in their apartments especially uncompleted buildings within the state,” Yerima said.
