By Bernard James, The Citizen Reporter
In Summary
The suspects include diplomats in some embassies,
who are reported to have actively defended human traffickers and aliens
arrested by Tanzanian authorities and pleaded for their release.
Dar es Salaam. Immigration officials are hot on
the trail of a syndicate that smuggles immigrants from Asia with the
promise of better-paying jobs in African countries.
The suspects include diplomats in some embassies,
who are reported to have actively defended human traffickers and aliens
arrested by Tanzanian authorities and pleaded for their release.
The Citizen on Saturday has established that the
syndicate has agents in Pakistan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa. Some of the traffickers operate in
Tanzania under cover of being investors and have acquired Class A
resident permits, but their main business is to facilitate human
trafficking.
The story of six Nepalese who were arrested in Dar
es Salaam in January this year after being duped by a trafficking agent
captures the seriousness of the problem in Tanzania. They were arrested
at a hotel in Ilala, where an agent named Bijaya Chhettri had booked a
room. He disappeared, never to be seen again.
One of the duped six told a Nepalese newspaper,
Republica, that they all met in Delhi in India before departing for
Kenya on tourist visas. The immigration department in Kenya reportedly
provided them with on-arrival visas, according to the man, who has
served in the Nepalese army for 17 years.
The six arrived in Delhi on October 29 as per the
instructions of a local agent handling those seeking jobs as security
guards at UN missions in EA. They were assured they would be paid $1,500
per month.
They claim that a man representing an unregistered manpower agency collected them and handed them to the first line agent.
They were then taken to the second line agent, who
led them to Kenya and handed them over to Chhettri, who holds a
passport under the name Chakra Bahadur BK and has two citizenship cards.
Here in Dar es Salaam, Chhetri was assisted by a
Punjabi named Sunny, but they were arrested at the hotel in the early
hours and never came face to face with Chhetri. The four spent four days
in police custody and were about to be sent to the head office of the
immigration department when someone came to their rescue. “On the last
day, we were fortunate enough to contact Kul Bahadur Karki, a Nepalese
who works in Uganda and is a former non-resident in Kenya,” one of the
men told a Nepalese paper.
With the help of Karki in Kenya and former NRN
president in Tanzania Bharat Rijal--a chartered accountant who is in
Nepal at present--they made their way back home.
Mr Rijal confirmed having received reports of many
other Nepalese stranded in Africa. According to the six victims, one
group of about 13 has already reached Tanzania and is now out of contact
and another group is also all set to leave for Delhi soon in
anticipation of landing in Tanzania. Statistics from the Immigration
Department indicate that about 35 Nepalese and 29 Bangladesh aliens were
arrested in Tanzania last year.
Yesterday, Dar es Salaam Regional Immigration
Officer Grace Hokororo confirmed the arrests. They were facing an uphill
task trying to crack down on the powerful syndicates involved in the
business, she added. Asked why the Nepalese were not formally charged,
Ms Hokororo said: “We ordered them back to their home country because
they entered the country using valid tourist visas. We deported them
upon discovering they were not tourists.”
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