Ghana Immigration Service disembarks four Ghanaian stowaways

Tema, Oct. 31, GNA – The Tema Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has received four Ghanaians who attempted to stowaway, at the Tema Harbour.

Three of the stowaways who were on board M.V Kota Samba, were attempting to reach Europe when the vessel called at the Tema Habour Anchorage from Walvis Bay, Namibia.

This was made known on Friday in a press release to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) signed by the Tema Regional Public Relations Officer of the GIS, DSI Mercy Budu.

According to the release, the three suspects aged between 45 and 46 years, were first discovered on MV Kota Lumba at the crew mess room alley whilst the vessel was at sea en route to Port Klang in Malaysia from Lome.

“Upon their discovery, COVID-19 tests were immediately conducted on them and the results came out negative. They were subsequently detained in the vessel till they got to Namibia before being transferred to MV Koto Samba at Walvis Bay which brought them to the Tema Main Harbour, Ghana,” the statement said.

The release said, the suspects boarded the vessel from the Poop Deck with bamboo hooks through a small boat at the Tema Main Harbour container terminal Berth NO.1 when the vessel berthed to discharge cargo, and after gaining access to the vessel, hid themselves in the cargo hold.

According to the suspects, they were discovered when they came out of the cargo hold thinking the vessel had arrived in Europe and partly because one of them had stomach upset that needed attention.

“A search on them revealed that they were traveling without any form of identity or travel document,” the release said.

The other suspect, a 31-year-old man, was intercepted attempting to stowaway on board MV Maritime Victory Panana few hours after the vessel set sail from the Tema Port en-route to Paramaribo in Suriname.

As a standard practice, the master of the vessel conducted stowaway searches at different times on the vessel but found no suspect onboard. However, the suspect appeared from nowhere after the master conducted a routine drill on the vessel immediately after take-off at the Tema Anchorage.

The report indicated that he was found standing around the upper deck of the starboard side of the vessel near the gangway looking confused, and when questioned about how he got into the vessel, he claimed to have fallen asleep in the tally room after helping to discharge cargo in the vessel.

His assertion was however, refuted by the master of the vessel because, prior to their departure, the tally was ramped and other searches were conducted on the vessel including the tally room.

“Further investigations revealed that the suspect cut opened and hid himself in the ceiling of the tally room of the vessel to evade detection, but might have been scared by the seemingly chaotic movements, loud voices and the sound of alarms typical of vessel drills,” the report said.

The suspects had been duly handed over to the Tema Main Harbour Police for further action.

The Tema Regional Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service, Assistant Commissioner (ACI) Kojo Oppong-Yeboah, said the Command just recorded its third case of stowaway after Covid-19 broke out in Ghana.

“Per our data the high risk people who are likely to engage in irregular migration more especially stowaway are between the ages of 18 and 30, but 45/46 year-olds attempting to stowaway is rather unusual and disturbing, to say the least. The Regional Command hopes that these cases will be all that we will have to deal with this year.”

ACI Oppong-Yeboah advised prospective travellers to desist from such dangerous journeys to seek greener pastures abroad at the detriment of their lives.

The Tema Regional Commander added that human smugglers took advantage of desperate persons seeking a better life outside to put them through risky trips. “Their lives, more often than not are put at risk, they may suffocate, die or drown at sea while being smuggled by their so-called helpers who treat them as commodities for profit making.”

He further admonished would-be travellers to migrate only through legal means and to avoid engaging the services of middlemen who were only interested in making money.

ACI Oppong-Yeboah cautioned the youth against falling for the traps of smugglers, and when in doubt, should seek professional travel advice from the nearest Immigration office whenever they intended to travel outside of the country.

The Regional Commander advised the youth to work hard and persevere and they could still make it in Ghana.

GNA