42 foreign illegal miners arrested in Bole

In the wake of the deadly Ebola disease, 45 illegal miners have been arrested in Bole in the Northern Region. Records available to Citi News indicate that 42 of the illegal miners are ECOWAS nationals. They have been identified as 17 Guineans, 23 Burkinabes and two Malians. They were rounded up by authorities of the Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service. Assistant Director of Immigration in charge of the Northern Region, Eric Afari in a Citi News interview said all of them have been accosted to Tamale for prosecution. He declared zero tolerance for foreign nationals entering the Northern Region through unapproved routes. According to him, there are 13 well patronized unapproved entry points into Ghana through the Northern Region. He said the Bole district bordering Cote D’I Voire has three whilst the Bunkprugu/Yunyoo district bordering Togo can boast of two out of such unapproved entry points. Though logistically constrained, Mr. Afari said his officers were well motivated enough to control the situation. He however called for appropriate logistics to expand their operations to stop foreign nationals from smuggling the Ebola disease into Ghana through the Northern Region. On passport fraud, Mr. Afari implored all passport applicants to channel their grievances through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said the Ghana Immigration Service was no longer directly dealing with passports issuance.

Source: Citi