Nigerian woman caught with three fake passports

Zimbabwean man, has been arrested and found in possession of three fake passports.
Esther Marhyo Dede wedded Elias Bright Shereni with help from a Glen View woman who The Herald last year reported had entered her own marriage of convenience with a Nigerian man while she was married to a Zimba-bwean soldier.
Dede was last night in police custody.
Her marriage to Shereni at the Ha-rare Magistrates’ Court was witnessed by Barbara Mwanakanda.
Mwanakanda (36) was last year arrested for marrying a Nigerian man while she was married to a soldier.
Assistant Regional Immigration officer Mr Evans Siziba said Dede was running a restaurant in Harare city centre.
“When we arrested her, she was purporting to be Ghanaian. We also discovered that she was using Zambian and Nigerian passports concurrently but they were not recovered at the time of the arrest,” he said.
Sources close to the investigations said sometime last year, Dede was involved in a domestic dispute with Shereni.
Shereni signed an affidavit allowing the Immigration Department to deport Dede.
He accused Dede of not disclosing to him that she had five children living with their South African father.
Shereni also revealed that Dede was using a Ghanaian passport she bought in South Africa.
He alleged that Dede was living with a doctor (name supplied) at Parirenya-twa Hospital.
The allegations led to the Immigra-tion Department launching investi-gations.
On December 30 last year, Shereni signed another affidavit trying to reverse the deportation.
He was, however, at that time already serving a 10-month prison term for assault.
“We had a dispute which has been resolved . . .
“I am currently serving a 10-month imprisonment term at Harare Central Prison after having been convicted of assault by the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
“I also withdraw a letter I once wrote to the Immigration Department for (my) wife to be deported,” reads part of the affidavit dated December 3, 2010.
On January 17, this year, the Immi-gration Department refused to grant Dede a residence permit.
She got a letter advising her to “bri-ng this notification letter together with your passport to the nearest Immigra-tion Office to finalise on departure arrangements”.
Dede’s appeal was not granted, leading to her arrest.
The Immigration Department then sought assistance from officials from the Embassy of Ghana to check if she was indeed from that country.
An official at the Embassy, Mr Gabriel Owusu Ansah, yesterday told immigration officials: “(Dede) is not a Ghanaian but rather suspected to be Nigerian.
“This mission should, therefore, be grateful if the passport in question (passport number H1500706) could be returned to the issuing authority after completion of investigations.”
Police last year arrested Mwana-kanda – who was married to a Zimba-bwean soldier – for entering a marriage of convenience with a Nigerian man.
She was charged with contravening sections of the Immigration Act.
The soldier allegedly stormed the Department of Immigration offices on learning that his wife could have in 2006 married a Nigerian man to help him get Zimbabwean residence sta-
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Nigerian woman caught with three fake passports
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tus. The infuriated soldier, who tied the knot with Mwanakanda in 2001, had to be restrained after demanding access to his wife as officials feared he would harm her.
Police arrested the Nigerian, Valentine Emerole (41), and Mwanakanda.
When Emerole approached Mwanakanda in 2006, she was hiring out wedding gowns to couples tying the knot at the Rotten Row Magistrates’ Courts.
Emerole allegedly gave Mwanakanda an undisclosed sum of money to get married to him.
The two solemnised their vows before a Harare magistrate without the knowledge of Mwanakanda’s husband, it is alleged.
Reports of marriages of convenience are commonplace and immigration officials have in the past deported several foreigners in connection with such cases.
In 2008, three Nigerians were arrested in similar circumstances.
They dumped the women as soon as they secured residence permits and asked their Nigerian wives to join them in Zimbabwe.