Dar es Salaam (ThisDay) — Police in the east African nation of Tanzania has arrested 28 immigrants from Ethiopia yesterday. The Ethiopians were heading to an unknown destination, probably South Africa.
The immigrants were traveling aboard a bus with registration number T245 BDD and were being escorted by two officials from the immigration department, one from the headquarters and the other from an immigration office in Temeke.
According to sources, human trafficking is now a lucrative business in border towns.
Officials from the immigration department who were escorting the Ethiopian immigrants told the police that the immigrants had just finished a one-year-term in jail at Babati Prison after being arrested living in the country illegally.
“This is a business for some officials within the immigration department who are earning money by trafficking Ethiopians and Somali people to South Africa,” sources said. After the bus had been held at Urafiki Police Post for some hours, directives from the immigration office were given to allow the bus to continue with the trip and there were no more explanations.
One of the officials escorting the immigrants said the immigrants were to take another vehicle to the border with Malawi where they will be escorted again by other officials.
Illegal immigrants from Ethiopia and Somalia are coming into Tanzania in droves taking advantage of the country’s porous borders.
Hardly does a month pass without the police and Immigration officers nabbing scores of illegal immigrants not only at border posts but deep in the inner towns of Tanzania.