Police in Matsiloje Village, in the North East District, have recorded a high number of illegal immigrants who infiltrated the country during the festive season.
The Station Commander for Matsiloje Police Station, Obert Manji, revealed to The Telegraph in an interview that they arrested 205 illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe who illegally crossed into Botswana between the 20th of December in 2012 and 6th January this year, a figure which he said is of grave concern.
“It is disturbing to note that within that short period of time, we recorded such a high number of illegal immigrants. The reasons these illegal immigrants gave when interrogated is that they crossed the border into the country mainly because they were looking for piece jobs in order to earn some income,” he said.
Manji added that the issue of illegal border crossing at Matsiloje buffer fence is very serious as these illegal immigrants destroy the border fence. He also advised the public to stop harbouring illegal immigrants, saying that the habit leads to the escalation of crime in the country.
“As the police, one of our major issues is that there is a tendency by some Batswana who employ these illegal immigrants to do some piece jobs and, in turn, refuse to pay them for the work done because they do not have lawful documents. This then results in crime as these illegal immigrants would find a way of revenging, resulting in violence, injuries or even death,” he said.
Manji said that they have since deported all the illegal immigrants back to Zimbabwe.
