Address human trafficking and irregular migration issues to prevent terrorism - Immigration officer

Assistant Superintendent of Immigration, (ASI) Jeffrey A. Ayeh of the Ghana Immigration Service(GIS), Kwameseikrom border post, has reiterated the need for government and stakeholders within the country's security architecture to take the matter about human trafficking and irregular migration seriously, as violent extremist may exploit it as a fodder to stage terrorism in the country.

He said terrorist through surveillance feed off information from migrants, stating "most of these people involve human traffickers and irregular migrants to work hand in hand with these terrorists by spreading or sending information to them".

"Some of them act on these surveillance to pursue their mischievous agenda to invade a whole country and hold it at ransom," he added.

ASI A. Ayeh said this at a meeting held at Kwameseikrom border community for the implementation of the inclusive preventive action on border security (SIPABS) project of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in the Bono and Bono East Regions.

It was organised by BOK Africa Concern, a Berekum based non-governmental Organization (NGO) in partnership with the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), which witnessed the participation of traditional rulers, motor association, religious leaders, farmers group drawn from the area.

The SIPABS initiative, under the theme 'Strengthening Border Security (SBS) Project of the ICMPD', is funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund(EUTF), has the objective of reducing and eliminating the occurrence of irregular migration and human trafficking in the two regions.

The programme also seeks to promote dialogue and active collaboration between communities, civil society and traditional authorities, and institutions especially border management agencies and local authorities.

ASI Ayeh advised travellers to seek advisory and verify with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority(GCAA), the regulatory agency which is mandated to register licensed travel agencies before they can do business with them.

He appealed to travellers to consult, cross-check and contact the GIS for the acquisition of the right travel documents before they embark on any journey or travel abroad saying, "the GIS is for safe migration".

"We get the right statistics and information about the number of people of Ghanaians in a foreign country. This helps us to be proactive and reactive, to respond swiftly when there's a major disaster, because we will know the number of Ghanaian nationals at the place where the disaster has struck," he added.

The GIS, he indicated has a document fraud unit at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Accra which is able to detect people who are on the watch list, and "we arrest, interrogate, and hand them over to the Police.

He said GIS ensures people have the right, proper documents to facilitate safe travel.