Rwandese arrested for attempting to obtain illegal passport
Last week the Immigration Department arrested a Rwandese national Shuppie Pascal for attempting to illegally obtain a Malawian passport with the help of a Malawian.
Immigration Department deputy spokesperson Wellington Chiponde confirmed that Pascal, despite being fluent in spoken Chichewa language, was exposed by the security setting of the passport issuance System.
Pascal, a second year Catholic University student and daughter of a Rwandese asylum seeker living at D
ubai in Area 49 in Lilongwe, was charged with false declaration contrary to section 327 of the Penal Code.
“A Malawian named Sinkhani Kayambazinthu was also arrested after she singlehandedly facilitated other formalities of obtaining the passport application forms and getting them endorsed by the district commissioner in Ntchisi.
“The two were taken to Blantyre Magistrate’s Court last Thursday where Senior Resident Magistrate Annie Mussa slapped them with a fine of K150 000 each or in default serve jail term of six months with hard labour. They both paid the fines,” said Chiponde.
Almost every month, the Immigration Department arrests scores of foreign nationals particularly from Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia for attempting to obtain a Malawian passport and illegal entry.
In a related development, last Thursday the Immigration Department also arrested eight Indian nationals in Limbe after they were found going about their businesses without carrying necessary documents.
“Usually we expect every foreign national to carry along with them all the proper documentation and when we arrested them no one of them had the documents which our Department requested.
“But when we arrived at the office, their relatives brought the documents and five of them were released but currently we are proceeding to court with only three who contravened conditions of their permits,” said Chiponde.
