APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) A group of 67 Pakistani nationals was deported on Sunday while trying to enter South Africa without proper documentation, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced.
The minister said in a statement that the Pakistanis were sent back home after failing to produce documentation on arrival at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.
Motsoaledi said the 67 had what he termed “questionable e-Visas” which they obtained via a South African electronic visa facility in Dubai.
Owing to the nature of the Pakistanis’ travel documents, a sting operation was put together by some of the country’ security agencies after observing certain trends that were suspicious and did not make sense, he said.
The sting operation was led by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Counter Corruption Branch, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), the State Security Agency, and the Border Management Authority.
On arrival Sunday morning, the group was interviewed by immigration officers at the airport, the minister said.
“They were asked about where they are going and about the purpose of their being in South Africa, and where they were going to stay given that they were coming here for the first time,” Motsoaledi said.
The result was that they provided conflicting evidence like giving names of non-existent hotels, names of alleged relatives – some of whom did not even exist, according to the minister.
“We have noticed that the newly acquired e-Visa system, which is meant to facilitate easier entry into the country by tourists, is being seriously abused by some nationals. We will never allow this,” he said.
NM/jn/APA