Ghana repatriates 122 ECOWAS nationals over virus restrictions

A total of 122 ECOWAS nationals were arrested in the Upper West Region in April this year, officials of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has said.

The foreigners, according to the GIS, have since been repatriated. They were intercepted at various border posts, especially at Babile in the Lawra Municipality.

Ghana has tightened border restrictions after the country recorded the deadly Coronavirus in March. The border closure has been extended to the end of May following a surge of the virus.

Public Affairs Director of the Upper West Region sect of the Ghana Immigration Service told Dailymailgh.com that security has been beefed up across border towns to ward off such migrants.

“Within our operational duty or function, we are responsible to fish out people who enter the country without documents. In April, for instance, we rounded up 122 foreigners and all of them were screened and have since been repatriated”, said ICO Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu, the Public Affairs Director of the Upper West Immigration Service.

Meanwhile, five persons believed to be Burkina Faso nationals had been arrested by the service at the time of filing this report.

They were picked up on Wednesday, May 12 while using an unapproved route near their native country, Burkina Faso.

The all-male ECOWAS nationals whose ages ranged between 15 and 34 were intercepted on two motorbikes with Burkina Faso registration numbers.

“Our investigations revealed that they were destined for Kumasi and Techiman for farming and trading activities,” said the Public Affairs Director in an interview with Dailymailgh.com.

They have since been screened by the Port health personnel and have been handed over Burkina Faso authorities on the other side of the border at about 1630hrs local time.