Police in Mponela have impounded a 30-tonne Volvo truck registration number NE 6600 truck carrying 42 illegal Ethiopian immigrants into Malawi.
Officer-in-Charge for Mponela Police Station, John Zidana, said the illegal immigrants were arrested in Mtiti area within Mponela following a tip-off from the public on July 6 around 5 pm and the truck was being driven by a Malawian, Noel Kachisanu.
He said the 42 Ethiopian nationals were packed in a truck carrying bags of maize husks.
“Looking at how the truck was craftily loaded, without people tipping us, it could have been difficult to intercept the truck,” said Rubadiri.
Police say some of the illegal immigrants looked frail with an urgent need for medication and a nourishing diet.
One of the immigrants, the only one able to speak English in the group, said he doesn’t know who took them from Ethiopia to Malawi. He added that they have been in transit for at least four months to get to Malawi.
He went further to apologise to the Malawi Government and police saying all they want is to be sent back to their native country.
Upon interrogation, the driver of the truck revealed that unknown people in Karonga advised him to ferry the immigrants to Lilongwe and he was provided with fuel.
He further said the unknown people were trailing behind them.
Publicist for Immigration Department Centre, Pasqually Zulu, said the immigrants will be deported to their native country once all the processes are done.
Police bemoan the tendency of some Malawians who aid the illegal immigrants using unchartered routes.
Kachisanu, 38, comes from Njolomole Village in the area of Traditional Authority Njolomole in Ntcheu District.
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