The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has secured convictions against five individuals for various immigration offences.
They are John Moore, 20, and Charles Bruce, 21, both Nigerians who had been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment each after being found guilty of offences linked to human trafficking and romance scamming.
Their conviction followed the rescue and repatriation of two victims, Joseph Atungwa and Cletus Tom Emmanuel, after been lured into Ghana under the promise of lucrative employment by a kingpin, only to be handed over to the convicts for training in online fraud.
According to a press statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs of the GIS, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ICI), Michael Amoako- Attah, copied The Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday, the rescue, arrest, and investigation were carried out by the Ashaiman Immigration Command.
In a related development, three foreign nationals, Yusuf Mohammed, 26, a Nigerian radiographer; Mohammed Ogbona, 32, a Nigerian factory hand; and Nalvine Anne Fonjong, 31, a Cameroonian trader, were arrested at the Tema Passport Application Centre for falsifying information to acquire Ghanaian birth certificates and identity cards in an attempt to obtain Ghanaian passports.
They were convicted by the Tema District Court and sentenced to 10 years, 15 years, and six months’ imprisonment respectively.
“The GIS wishes to remind all foreign nationals in the country that there are legal ways of obtaining Ghanaian citizenship,” adding that anyone who attempts to use unlawful means of securing Ghanaian citizenship will, therefore, be arrested and made to face the full rigors of the law.
“Any foreign national who is desirous of obtaining citizenship should contact the nearest immigration office for such assistance.
“The GIS reiterates its commitment to rigorously enforcing the country’s immigration laws in the interest of national security and development,” the statement added.
BY TIMES REPORTER