Africa-Press – Angola. Angolan citizen Alberto Kumbi Tati and Congolese democratic Charles Izika were sentenced Friday in Mbanza Kongo, Zaire province, to two years in prison for helping 21 DRC immigrants to enter Angola illegally.
According to the ruling by the District Court of Mbanza Kongo, the defendants were also sentenced, each, to pay 44,000 kwanzas in court fees and 5,000 kwanzas to public defenders.
Defendant Charles Izika was also sentenced to expulsion from the country and a ban on entry into national territory for a period of five years, while the judgment determines repatriation to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the 21 illegal immigrants.
The convicts were arrested in flagrante delicto, in August this year, in the 11 de Novembro neighborhood, on the outskirts of the city of Mbanza Kongo, accompanied by 21 illegal immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who entered national territory through the Luvo border.
The judge of the case João António Sebastião said that the two defendants and the 21 illegal immigrants, who disbursed unspecified monetary amounts to enter Angola, were detained inside a residence in the Bela Vista area, by the National Police, after an anonymous complaint.
During the arrest, he said, several items and monetary values were also seized, namely 205,000 kwanzas, 2,500 Congolese francs, 750 US dollars, six DRC electoral cards, an Angolan identity card and five mobile phones.
According to the sentence, the two defendants made helping illegal immigration their livelihood, recruiting DRC citizens at the Luvo border to enter the national territory in exchange for money.
SME repatriates 55 DRC citizens
On the other hand, 55 citizens of the DRC who resided illegally in the city of Soyo, province of Zaire, were repatriated, Friday, by the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME), through the river border post of Kimbumba.
According to the spokesman for the Provincial Delegation of the Interior, Sérgio Afonso, they were collected in various peripheral neighborhoods of the city of Soyo, within the framework of actions to control and supervise foreigners in an irregular migratory situation.
Four of the six municipalities in the province of Zaire share a border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, namely, Mbanza Kongo, Soyo, Cuimba and Nóqui, in an extension of 310 kilometres.
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