25 more Malawian border jumpers intercepted at Beitbridge border post A group of Malawians intercepted at Beitbridge border post today

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau

The Department of Immigration’s Compliance and Enforcement unit today intercepted a total of 25 Malawian border jumpers who were travelling to South Africa.

A source within the department said the interception was part of the clampdown on border jumping and human smuggling along the boundary with South Africa.

Among those arrested, 16 had passports that were not stamped at any immigration office, while the rest were undocumented.

The immigrants were reportedly travelling in an Intercity bus after skipping the border into Zimbabwe via Nyamapanda.

Acting Regional Immigration Officer (ARIO) in charge of Beitbridge Mr Trustworth Manatsire confirmed the interception which occurred at a local service station around 4am.

“We have since handed the group to the police pending further investigations and prosecution,” he said.

“As a department, we want to warn syndicates involved in this human smuggling activity that they will face the full wrath of the law. We are not relentin.”

Border authorities has since the beginning of the Covid-19 induced lockdowns been clamping down on the illegal movement of people across the port of entry to minimize the spread of the diseases.

In the last two months, over 100 Malawians were intercepted either skipping the border into Zimbabwe from South Africa or vice versa.

Most of them use syndicates in both countries to facilitate their illegal movement between the two countries. @tupeyo

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