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Ninety illegal Ethiopian immigrants swept in jail
2008-04-11 10:21:46
By Amri Lugungulo, PST, Kibaha
Ninety Ethiopians are each serving a six-month sentence after they failed to pay 50,000/-, being the fine ordered by Kibaha Resident Magistrate`s Court in Coast Region for illegal stay in the country.
The sentence was issued by Resident Magistrate, Hamisi Ali Salum, after the accused pleaded guilty to entering Tanzania contrary to immigration rules.
The Coast Regional Immigration Officer (RIO), Omari Kipande, told PST on Wednesday that the driver of the vehicle that carried them, John Mabena (43), and his assistant, Ayub Uhagile (27), were also sentenced to go to jail for three years in default of paying the fine of 100,000/-.
They had earlier pleaded guilty to assisting the aliens by ferrying them from Mlandizi, in Coast Region to Iringa from where the convicted were proceeding to Malawi.
The driver and his assistant were also still facing another charge of conspiracy to assist ferrying the aliens aboard a `Scania` truck with registration number T990 ACJ.
Kipande said that in the case of immigration prosecuted by an immigration officer, Mwajuma Mfaume, the 90 illegal immigrants would be deported to their home country after completion of their sentence.
He said that the aliens, all males and aged between 18 and 38 years, were arrested on April 4, this year at Mlandizi area in the region.
The illegal immigrants who hailed from Ethiopia had gone through Mombasa, Kenya before they entered Tanzania by boat and later boarded the truck that would have taken them to Malawi, he said.
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