Officers of the Ghana Immigration Service in the North East region, in collaboration with military personnel, have arrested 23 foreigners for illegal entry into Ghana.
The arrested persons were 15 Togolese and eight Burkinabe nationals.
The operations of the joint security team forms part of ongoing efforts to enforce the border closure directives by government to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
According to the regional immigration command, the foreign nationals entered the country through unapproved routes.
According to the brief, the arrested persons were on board a Yuntong vehicle with registration number AW 400-19 which they clam had left the Garu township.
JoyNews suggest the arrest followed intelligence received by border guards at the Missiga inland post that some foreigners were sneaking through unapproved routes into the country through the Nakpanduri road to Kumasi and Accra.
Upon this information, the North East Region Commander, Chief Supt. William Peter Andoh , alerted and ordered his men at the Bunkpurugu command to erect a tent and create a checkpoint to intercept the vehicle in which they were travelling.
Subsequently, the vehicle was intercepted and after a critical interrogation of the passengers on board, the 23 foreigners made up of 12 males, five females and six children were identified.
The North East Regional Commander who confirmed the arrest to JoyNews said the foreigners when questioned said they were farm labourers traveling to Kumasi and its environs to look for jobs.
Chief Supt Andoh said the arrested persons have been escorted back to Togo and Burkina Faso with a caution to them not to illegally come into the country again.
This is the second major operation to be carried out by immigration officials in the Bunkprugu – Nakpanduri district in the North East region since the closure of the country’s borders.
The officers, two months ago, intercepted and repatriated over 80 foreign nationals who had attempted using various unapproved routes into Ghana.