adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THREE foreigners, two of them Muslim clerics from Sierra Leone, face deportation following their arrest for illegal immigration. The priests, Fofana Mamoudou and Mohammed Bayo along with Angolan Ismael Babo, who entered the country through a bushy area in Nxele area near the Plumtree Border Post, appeared before Plumtree magistrate Gideon Ruvetsa charged with illegal immigration.
Mamoudou told the court he was on a soul winning mission along with his counterpart Bayo.
“Your Worship, I am an Islamic cleric from Sierra Leone. We were coming from Botswana where we were carrying out church duties. At the time we were arrested we were still on our way to carry out our duties,” he said.
Prosecutors say the trio, who did not have legal travel documents, dropped off a PCJ bus at Ramokgwebana Border Post and were assisted by touts who led them into the country through holes in a fence on the Zimbabwean side.
Prosecuting, Medica Tshuma said detectives from the Border Control Unit intercepted the trio in a bushy area on Friday, May 23, following a tip-off.
“They were intercepted in a bushy area close to the Plumtree Border Post and asked to produce their travel documents but they failed resulting in their arrest,” he said.
Ruvetsa ordered the two Islamic clerics to pay a fine of $50 or spend 20 days in prison in case of default before being referred to the immigration office for deportation.
The Angola national was referred to the Immigration office as he could not speak English.
derick.khumalo