A total of twenty (20) ECOWAS nationals have been busted onboard a VIP bus with Registration Number AS 1614 – 20 from Hamile in the Upper West Region enroute Kumasi.

The irregular migrants were apprehended following intel corroborated from the Hamile Sector Command.

The migrants comprised of a Malian and nineteen Burkina Faso nationals. They were made up of eighteen (18) males and two (02) females with their ages ranging between seven (07) and forty-seven (47) years.

Investigations revealed that they entered into Ghana through some unapproved routes on the Hamile stretch bordering neighbouring Burkina Faso.

It was further revealed that they were journeying to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Sampa in the Bono Region, Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region and Bole in the Savannah Region respectively. The purposes for their migration includes trading, family visit as well as economic and farming activities.

They were taken through the health screening process by personnel from the Ghana Health Service before being escorted to the Hamile Border Post where they were handed over to the Burkina Faso authorities on the other side of the border at about 1002HRS.

As part of our efforts to dwarf if not completely end the menace of irregular migration to and from Ghana, the Upper West RegionalCommander, C/Supt. William Peter Andoh has established another inland checkpoint at Ga in the Wa West district. We, therefore, urge the general public that it will be impossible to evade the vigilant Immigration Officials even when you successfully sneak into Ghana through the porous borders.

Aside the President’s directive on the closure of land borders as part of the measures to combat covid-19, the Ghana Immigration Service is mandated to regulate migration to and from Ghana. We shall not let our guard down! Any citizen who is caught facilitating the activities of irregular migration to and from Ghana would suffer the penalty for it.