Ghana: 13 Burkinabes get arrested for illegal entry into Ghana

Thirteen Burkinabes (people refer from Burkina Faso), who entered Ghana through unapproved routes at Hamile in the Upper West Region were arrested and repatriated by personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), according to a news report by Ghanian Times.

According to the news report, the Regional Public Relations Officer for the GIS, Immigration Control Officer (ICO) Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu, hinted that the personnel initially arrested four males aged between 22 and 39 on Tuesday onboard a Hyundai Grace H300 bus with registration number AS-3289-11 en route to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

He said that the other nine migrants, who were aged between 18 and 36, were arrested around Batoma and Beat Four unapproved routes under the Hamile sector command by the GIS personnel during their usual patrols on May 6.

Seidu said that the migrants were traveling on motorcycles and told the personnel that they were heading to Techiman and Kumasi in the Bono and Ashanti regions for economic reasons.

"The migrants have since been handed over to authorities in Burkina Faso after a thorough health screening was conducted at the Hamile border," he said.

"We are sending a stern warning to the general public, particularly, the border residents that in line with our operational functions, to ensure that prohibited, undocumented and irregular migrants are not allowed entry into Ghana, we are going all out to secure our territorial borders," Seidu added.

Ghana closed its sea, land, and air borders on March 22, as part of efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).