By Solomon T Gaye
The Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) central office in Sanniquellie has disclosed the arrest and detention of twenty Burkinabes in Nimba County.
Speaking in Sanniquellie, ACI Richard S. Mehnpaine, explained that the Burkinabes were arrested by members of the community watch forum in the forest and turned over to LIS in Tappita for investigations.
According to LIS commander Mehnpaine, they were caught in the forest ‘unauthorizingly’ brushing bush between Gblor Kweepea town and Baiplay town in Nimba County.
“They were caught in the forest working in a group. They built camp in the forest between Gblor Kweepea town and Baiplay town along the Kparblee belt”, LIS Commander Mehnpaine stated.
“Preliminary investigations have uncovered that they were illegally brought in by some residents of Baiplay Town into the country to work for them, ” LIS commander Mehnpaine disclosed.
The Inquirer Newspaper further gathered from LIS preliminary investigations that twenty Burkinabes crossed the borders into Liberia by way of Grand Gedeh County and they later migrated to Nimba County.
“The twenty of them don’t have documents, they will remain here in LIS’ custody until they process the resident permit which cost US$150 to be paid into government’s revenue,” LIS Mehnpaine stated.
Since the beginning of 2024, there are reports of alleged crossing of a huge number of Burkinabes on a daily basic into the country through the borders in Nimba. These undocumented west Africans engage in building camps in the dense forest and this action is creating security concerns among the residents in the county.
This outlet has gathered that since the onset of 2025, this is the first huge numbers of Burkinabes to be hooked by the residents in the district.
