Four Ghanaians deported from Italy

Four Ghanaians who braved the Sahara desert storms and cold winds of the Mediterranean Sea to seek fortune in Italy arrived in Accra Wednesday after being deported. Samson Osei, alias Samson King, 30, Teye Abraham, alias Brown Ibraham, 30, Anokye Francis, alias Francis Zenebel, 31, and Issah Somila, alias John Kennedy, 32, were detained for several days in Italy before being deported to Ghana.

Narrating their ordeal to newsmen at Kotoka International Airport, Mr Somila, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said they left Ghana two years ago by road via Burkina Faso through the Sahara desert for Libya where they worked to accumulate money to enable them to travel to Europe. While in Libya, they came into contact with a "connection man" or an agent who promised to ferry them across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome for a fee of 2,000 dollars each. Mr Somila said after the deal was struck, the agent took them in an open boat with 68 other African nationals to Sicily, Italy, where luck ran out on them. They were sent to detention camps where they insisted they were Sierra Leoneans fleeing the civil war in that country to seek asylum. "But upon interrogation, our accent gave us away, hence our deportation to Ghana." Mr Somila said he later learnt that out of the 72, 17 were Nigerians who were also sent home. He advised would-be desperadoes to think twice before embarking on such journeys, adding: "the ordeal and humiliation one goes through on such journeys are beyond description and too painful to recount".