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Zvikomborero Parafini
THREE illegal immigrants, who were arrested in the ongoing crackdown against those who escaped from Tongogara Refugee Camp, appeared in court yesterday.
Mwanakisi Summer Mohamed (23), Biru Morka (42) and Mary Musabyimana (23) appeared separately before magistrate Ruth Moyo, who ordered them to pay a US$200 fine or three months in prison.
The court heard that Mohamed, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, entered Zimbabwe in 2009.
He came with his aunt, Celina Lucas Mkundi, and went to Tongogara Refugee Camp where he sought refugee status and was issued with a temporary permit regulating his stay in Zimbabwe.
Mohamed allegedly escaped from Tongogara Refugee Camp and went to Harare where he started working at a shop in Cameroon Street.
On Monday, a crack team comprising police and immigration officials, who are part of Operation ‘Comply/ Leave, confronted Mohamed at his workplace and asked to see a permit authorising his stay in Harare.
He failed and was arrested.
The court heard that Morka, an Ethiopian, entered Zimbabwe in March last year as a refugee and escaped from Tongogara Refugee Camp and was arrested at the same shop in Cameroon Street.
Musabyimana, who is from Rwanda, was also arrested at Cameroon Street shop on Monday.
She had entered the country in 2000 with her parents.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter