Immigration: 45 arrested persons neither terrorists nor Ebola patients

Prosper

LAGOS—Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS yesterday declared that the 45 immigrants arrested weekend, during a joint raid with policemen attached to Area ‘A’ Command, Lion Building, in two hotels in Lagos, were neither terrorists nor Ebola patients, as widely rumored.

Rather, it explained that the immigrants were legally in the country and had the necessary documents.

A breakdown of the arrest as disclosed by the Comptroller of Immigration, Lagos State Command, Justina Ahmadu, showed that 41 of the immigrants were Congolese while four were Senegalese.

Out of the 41 Congolese, two of them according to Ahmadu were refugees registered in Nigeria, with the National Commission for Refugees, while 39 others were on transit enroute Czech Republic.

Their arrest as gathered, followed information received by the Police and NIS that some foreigners from the Ebola infected countries had sneaked into Nigeria.

Their apprehension further sent panic across Lagos state, as it was rumoured that they were Ebola patients who fled from where they were quarantined in their respective countries.

Describing such claim as false, Ahmadu explained that a profile on the immigrants showed they did not enter the country illegally.

Consequently the immigrants as gathered, were released at about 1am on Saturday.

According to her: “On Friday, August 29, 2014 , at about 7pm, we carried a joint operation with the Nigerian Police Area A command, at the Travelers Inn Hotels Lagos Island, where we arrested a total of 45 immigrants comprising 39 Congolese , former Zaire; two Congolese refugees registered in Nigeria with the National Commission for Refugees and four Senegalese.

“On profiling them, It was discovered that the Congolese entered the country through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA with valid travel documents and appropriate transit visa en-route Czech republic.Their mission in Nigeria is to obtain Czech republic visa in Abuja. They are all artists.

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