The Resident Magistrate’s Court sitting in Lilongwe has on Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 ordered eight Ethiopian nationals who were found in a truck in Dedza earlier this month to pay for all their deportation costs.

Public relations officer Central Regional Immigration Office Inspector Pasqually Zulu confirmed the development by saying these are illegal immigrants who were found in a truck at the Dedza border post en route to South Africa on 09th February 2022.

According to Zulu, the said group was jointly arrested by Immigration and Police officers at the border when the officers heard bangs in a truck trailer registration number RRP 270 GP which was carrying beans to South Africa.

The publicist further disclosed that the deportation order was made on Wednesday, February 16th, 2022 when the Central Regional Immigration prosecution team took these eight illegal immigrants to court for prosecution.

He continued to say that the Lilongwe resident magistrate’s court then ordered that the Ethiopian nationals are deported within 14 days and all the deportation expenses have to be covered by themselves.

While these Ethiopians have been remanded at Maula Prison pending their deportation, the driver of the truck who is identified as John Soko aged 44 from Traditional Authority Chindi in Mzimba district, is still at large.

In a related development, on Wednesday, February 16th, 2022, the immigration department has through the Mchinji border post deported three Congolese nationals who were nabbed earlier this week for violating Malawi’s Immigration laws.

The three have been identified as Romeo Matondo Bitumba aged 31, Aldophine Katose Sefu aged 21, and Tichuck Duya Metere aged 22.

The trio was arrested at an ad hoc roadblock by the Immigration Rapid track team upon seeing their travel documents which had no entry stamps and visas for Malawi.