LAGOS—Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS yesterday declared
that the 45 immigrants arrested weekend, during a joint raid with policemen
attached to Area ‘A’ Command, Lion Building, in two hotels in Lagos, were
neither terrorists nor Ebola patients, as widely rumored.
Rather, it explained that the immigrants were legally in the
country and had the necessary documents.
A breakdown of the arrest as disclosed by the Comptroller of
Immigration, Lagos State Command, Justina Ahmadu, showed that 41 of the
immigrants were Congolese while four were Senegalese.
Out of the 41 Congolese, two of them according to Ahmadu
were refugees registered in Nigeria,
with the National Commission for Refugees, while 39 others were on transit
enroute Czech Republic.
Their arrest as gathered, followed information received by
the Police and NIS that some foreigners from the
Ebola infected countries had sneaked into Nigeria.
Their apprehension further sent panic across Lagos state, as it was
rumoured that they were Ebola patients who fled from where they were
quarantined in their respective countries.
Describing such claim as false, Ahmadu explained that a
profile on the immigrants showed they did not enter the country illegally.
Consequently the immigrants as gathered were released at
about 1am on Saturday.
According to her: “On Friday, August 29, 2014 , at about
7pm, we carried a joint operation with the Nigerian Police Area A command, at
the Travelers Inn Hotels Lagos Island, where we arrested a total of 45
immigrants comprising 39 Congolese , former Zaire; two Congolese refugees
registered in Nigeria with the National Commission for Refugees and four
Senegalese.
“On profiling them, It was discovered that the Congolese
entered the country through the Murtala
Mohammed International
Airport, MMIA with valid travel
documents and appropriate transit visa en-route Czech republic.Their mission in
Nigeria is to obtain Czech republic visa in Abuja. They are all artists.
- See more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/immigration-45-arrested-persons-neither-terrorists-ebola-patients/#sthash.zaZQkOQU.dpuf
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