By Austin Ajayi, Yola
Over 700 people believed to be from Cameroon and Niger republic were intercepted and repatriated to Cameroon at the border towns and communities in Adamawa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the same period, the Service also arrested 21 persons who attempted entering Adamawa state through illegal ways. They were handed over to the Cameroonian authorities.
The Comptroller of Adamawa state Command, Mohammed Alhassan, disclosed this to The AUTHORITY in an exclusive interview in Yola.
He said the Command has intensified border patrol to prevent foreigners from entering the country, particularly now that the Nigeria is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic challenge.
According to him, because of the long stretch of communities in Adamawa bordering Cameroon, the Nigeria Immigration Service has provided 13 Hilux vans for effective patrol in the area.
The Comptroller added that the command also made seizures of 85 (25) liters of petroleum and 2 motorcycles that were used by smugglers to smuggle the product to Cameroon which they abandoned on sighting the patrol team.
” Apart from this fuel, we were able to intercept large quantity of prohibited drugs and handed over to the NDLEA,” he said.
Compt. Mohammed Alhassan further disclosed that of all the COVID-19 cases in Adamawa, none was as a result of anybody who came to the state through any of the borders.
While commending the Nigeria Immigration Service for providing the needed support to his Command, he said the cooperation of the village heads in the communities contributed to the success recorded.
” l must tell you, most of the illegal entering point used by Cameroonians and Nigereens to come into Adamawa state were shown to us, the fear of Corona virus has made us to discover more routes being used by smugglers.
” We are working with other security agencies in the state to keep our borders safe and ensure that foreigners don’t come with the virus,” he said.
