Supt. Amoako-Atta
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) says it has deported 100 illegal African immigrants for engaging in fraudulent activities in the country.
This represents a sharp increase in the number of illegal migrants, who have been deported from Ghana in the past two years.
Head of Public Affairs of GIS, Superintendent Michael Amoako-Atta, who disclosed this, stated that his outfit, over the past three months, had embarked on swoops in some parts of Accra based on intelligence to arrest illegal migrants domiciled in Ghana.
Supt. Amoako-Atta, who spoke to the press, noted that 20 illegal immigrants were deported from the country in 2016 while 58 others were also deported last year.
Speaking to Accra-based radio station Citi Fm, he said, “We set up our intelligence gathering in some spots in the city and through that we were able to arrest mostly African migrants, who were in the country and whose stay was in contravention of the immigration laws of the country.”
He noted that the suspects were screened and arrested.
“Mostly, the offences ranged from illegal employment, overstaying, some with suspicious characters and some with fraudulent documents,” Supt Amoako-Atta stated.
The deportation of the 100 immigrants comes at a time when there is public outcry about the upsurge in criminal activities in the country.
This month, there have been two daylight robberies in the Greater Accra Region.
Some masked men raided the premises of Royal Motors, an automobile company and made away with the company’s sales from the previous day.
Barely 24 hours later, a Lebanese was shot and killed by armed robbers after they succeeded in robbing him of cash of GH?200,000 at the Heavy Industrial Area.
According to Supt Amoako-Atta, the deportation was part of measures put in place by the GIS to support other security agencies in the fight against crime in the country.
He added that government has provided GIS with 50 multi-purpose motorcycles to help combat criminal activities at the country’s borders and other entry points.
By Gibril Abdul Razak