Commercial passengers hijack Malawian deportees in South Africa buses

Officials from Malawi Consulate in Tete, Mozambique have bust a syndicate in which commercial passengers connnive with bus operators to get ride in buses meant for Malawian deportees from South Africa.

Immigration officers at Mwanza Border have since detained four buses carrying Malawian deportees from South Africa on suspicion that some of them were commercial passengers without valid travelling documents.

This was after Malawian Consulate in Mozambique intercepted the buses at Cuchamano, a border post between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, after carrying out a verification exercise.

It is yet to be established how commercial passengers managed to get into the buses which were specifically hired for deportees.

Authorities at Mwanza Border indicated that this appears to be a long time syndicate where transporters cash in when hired to transport deportees.

Department of Immigration spokesperson Pasqually Zulu asked for more time before commenting.

But Malawi’s Consul General in Tete Happy Saka confirmed about their operation.

He said: “It was a normal exercise to welcome deportees at Cuchamano Border.

“But when we begun to do a physical verification exercise of the passengers, we found out that some were commercial passengers who did not have valid travelling documents and took advantage of this arrangement to evade immigration procedures.

“We handed over these buses at Mwanza Border to the Immigration Department. You may wish to get details from there.”

The country’s missions in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are currently investigating how commercial passengers found themselves among deportees and how they managed to cross other border posts without being noticed.