The Zambian police in the Kapiri-Mposhi District have arrested three Zambians and a Tanzanian national for conveying and smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.

Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Danny Mwale, who confirmed the arrests in a statement issued in Lusaka on Monday, said the suspects were arrested at the Nkumbi Checkpoint in Kapiri-Mposhi on Sunday, June 30.

Mwale said the arrests were made possible after officers, acting on a tip-off from concerned members of the public, intercepted a Scania tanker truck with registration numbers T711 DMV and T214.

The police spokesman said the intercepted truck was driven by the Tanzanian, Ramadan Ayoub, 32, from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, and belongs to World Oil Limited Company based in Tanzania.

“Upon searching the tanker truck, officers discovered four males, believed to be Ethiopians, concealed on a bed inside the vehicle,” Mwale stated.

He added that the truck driver, upon interrogation, disclosed that an accomplice was waiting for the illegal immigrants in Kapiri-Mposhi town.

Following this lead, officers arrested Moses Mfula, 42, from Soweto compound in Kapiri-Mposhi District, the police spokesman said.

He stated further that Mfula cooperated with the police and directed them to two other individuals en route from Lusaka to collect the illegal immigrants.

“Subsequently, a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number ALG 9063 arrived near the tanker truck.

“The two occupants, identified as Charles Mwanza, 43, and Taonga Mukwakwa, 32, from Lusaka’s Chawama compound and Matero township respectively, were arrested after engaging with the truck driver.

“All suspects are currently detained in police custody in Kapiri-Mposhi, while the four illegal immigrants are held in Mkushi District,” the statement said.

Mwale added that investigations are ongoing, with police coordinating with the Department of Immigration.

A UK-based Nigerian taxi driver identified as Sabitu Adams who left the country two years ago has claimed that despite no longer working for the government, he still draws a salary from the Nigerian government.

Adams, in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, confessed that despite leaving Nigeria for the UK, he still drew a monthly salary as a junior official at a government agency back home.

Adams said he, as in the case of many others in similar situations, did not resign from his job in Nigeria.

The 36-year-old Nigerian national said despite not working with the country’s government for two years, he had continued to receive a monthly salary of N150,000, which is approximately $100 or £80, from the Nigerian government.

Adam’s confession is coming barely a week after President Bola Tinubu had directed that all civil servants drawing salaries from the government after relocating abroad should be made to refund the money.

Tinubu’s orders came following a revelation by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Folasade Yemi-Esan, who announced at a gathering in Abuja that the federal government had identified 1,618 ghost workers through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

Yemi-Esan revealed that out of 69,308 civil servants who underwent mandatory verification, they have successfully integrated into the IPPIS.

“There are active measures to address Nigerians who have moved abroad and taken up new jobs while still on our payroll.

“The federal government is taking stringent actions, leading many to voluntarily resign after physical verifications.”

Tinubu had also vowed that the culprits’ supervisors and departmental heads would be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud while they were in charge.

However, Adams who is one of the thousands of ghost workers Yemi-Esan was referring to, dismissed Tinubu’s comments as an empty threat, saying there is such an intricate web that it would be impossible to eradicate the ghost worker syndrome.

“When I heard about the president’s directive, I smiled because I know I am doing better here – and not worried,” he said.

“To be honest I didn’t resign because I wanted to leave that door open in case I choose to go back to my job after a few years,” he confessed.