Five Burkina Faso nationals have been arrested by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for breaching President Akufo-Addo’s directive on the closure of the national borders due to outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The offenders, all males, aged between 15 and 32, entered into Ghana through an unapproved route at Hamilie in the Lambussie District of the Upper West Region.
The Upper West Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the GIS, Mr Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu, who revealed this to the Ghana News Agency in Wa, said the five persons entered into the country on two motorbikes with Burkina Faso registration numbers.
He explained that the illegal migrants were traveling to Kumasi and Techiman for farming and other economic activities.
President Akufo-Addo, on March 15, 2020, ordered the closure of the national borders – air, sea, and land as part of stringent measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Since the closure of the borders, several foreign nationals have been intercepted trying to enter or leave the country contrary to the Presidential protocol.
Mr Seidu noted that the five arrested persons had since been screened and handed over to the Burkina Faso authorities for the necessary action to be taken against them while the motorbikes had been impounded according to the law.
He gave the assurance that the GIS, in collaboration with other sister security agencies would not relent on its efforts to implement the President’s directive on the borders’ closure to the latter.
“It must be emphasized that the personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service will not compromise our operational functions of ensuring that prohibited, undocumented and irregular migrants are not allowed entry into our country”, he noted.
Mr Seidu also urged the Ghanaian border residents who were aiding the illegal migrants into the country, especially in this era of COVID-19, to desist from it or face the wrath of the law when caught.
