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The Kebbi State Police Command has arrested 165 illegal immigrants from Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Benin Republic, and Niger Republic, all residing in a three-bedroom flat in the Kuwait area of Birnin Kebbi.
According to the command’s Public Relations Officer, CSP Nafiu Abubakar, the arrests followed an intelligence report that led detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) to discover the arrested individuals from francophone countries living in the cramped apartment.
“During the operation, 35 Burkina Faso nationals, 110 from Ivory Coast, 11 from Benin Republic, five from Niger Republic, and four from Mali were taken into custody,” he said.
He said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects were residing in Nigeria without valid documentation and were allegedly involved in the Qnet Ponzi scheme.
CSP Abubakar further disclosed that the suspects have been handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kebbi State Command.
The residents of the area expressed concerns about illegal immigration and its potential impact on local security.
A resident of the Kuwait area in Birnin Kebbi, Adamu Augie, said many of those detained had been living in a flat in the area for several months.
“We don’t know what they do for a living, but we have been seeing them coming in and out of the flat. We don’t know where they are from, but it’s clear they are not Nigerians,” Augie told Daily Trust.
He explained that locals were uneasy about their presence, citing their unfamiliar appearance and non-Nigerian looks.
“Some of us reported their presence to the police. Given the current security situation, you can’t be too cautious,” he added.
Another resident, Abdullahi Umar, confirmed that the police raided the flat based on tips from locals who had noticed the unfamiliar individuals’ movements.
“The police have done a good job. We didn’t know anything about these people. Their presence poses a significant security threat because they aren’t Nigerians, and no one knew why they were all gathered in that one flat,” Umar said.
