The Immigration Department has arrested nine of 11 Somalis that sneaked away from a hotel in Lusaka. The 11 Somalis left the hotel last week in suspicious circumstances after purportedly coming into Zambia for a workshop. Immigration Department public relations officer Namati Nshinka said in a statement yesterday that those arrested are under custody. “Eleven Somalis, among them 10 men and one woman, entered the country on May 16, 2019 to attend an Inter-Cultural Competency Course at the invitation of Kook College of International Studies in Makeni

“However, upon being examined by Immigration officers at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, serious suspicions regarding their true purpose of coming to Zambia became apparent,” Mr Nshinka said.

He said the suspicions prompted the immigration officers to withhold the passports of the 11 Somalis. He said the officers then asked the Somalis to report to the Lusaka regional immigration office for further investigations. Mr Nshinka said on the same day, the Somalis checked in at a hotel where they had been staying and cooperated with officers carrying out their investigations until they suddenly changed their place of lodging on May 23, 2019, without informing the immigration department.

“Nine out of the 11 [Somalis] were soon after located and are currently in our custody pending the conclusion of our investigations. The search for the two, who remain at large, is active and ongoing,” he said. The Somalis left bills at the hotel but the organiser promised to settle them. A standard room at the said hotel is K390, while other rooms go for K560 and K720. A source at the hotel said the Somalis came into the country on May 16 and were supposed to check out on Thursday last week.

“They were hosted by a certain company that was supposed to conduct the training. The surprising thing is that they spent most of the time at the lodge despite saying they were supposed to attend a workshop,” the source said. The source said they were scheduled to go to Siavonga on Thursday for recreation before returning to Somalia on Friday.