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Mbeya court kicks out 27 Somalis
2006-01-31 09:05:54
By Nico Mwaibale, PST, Mbeya
The Mbeya Resident Magistrate’s Court has ordered the deportation of 27 Somalis who were arrested earlier this month with forged Tanzanian travel documents.
Mbeya Regional Immigration Officer Rashid Matana told PST yesterday that the aliens were last Friday given seven days to leave after pleading guilty to entering the country illegally.
’This means that they have up to tomorrow to leave the country. We’ll see to it that the order is implemented,’ he said.
The Somalis were brought back from Malawi via the Kasumulu border post in Kyela District after they were found in possession of forged Tanzanian emergency travel documents.
The documents were issued in Dar es Salaam and bore photographs which were not those of people found in possession of the papers.
The Somalis were escorted by people said to legitimately hold the temporary passports to Isongole Village, Ileje District, where they were handed over to an unidentified person who assisted them to cross the border into Malawi.
Their travel documents were stamped by Tanzanian immigration officials, but the Somalis aroused the suspicion of Malawian authorities who refused to grant them entry and turned them back.
They denied entering the country illegally and possessing forged travel documents when they were arraigned on January 18, but changed their minds and pleaded guilty when the case came up for mention on January 24.
The court fined them 10,000/- each and ordered that they each serve a one-year jail sentence in default. The Somalis were also required to leave the country on completion of their sentences.
They paid the fines and were given seven days to leave the country.
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