Written by Patience Nyangove and Max Hamata at Oshikango
Thursday, 27 May 2010
A two-week long Informanté investigation has unearthed how a Nigerian human smuggling kingpin has allegedly been cashing in thousands of US dollars on trafficking men, mostly under the age of 30 from West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola via Namibia.
The investigation led to the arrest of Ben Karibo Nwahin, on Tuesday while trying to bribe Informanté journalists to withhold the story.
The men smuggled were mostly from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mali and Guinea. Nwahin who is married to a Namibian woman although it's reported that the couple is no longer staying together, is legally in the country because of the domicile granted to him when he married the woman.
He is allegedly known to boast that he is untouchable because of his status. Investigations also revealed that Nwahin has been working in cahoots with a DRC based Guinea national only known by the name Ausman in smuggling desperate men through the DRC via Zambia and Namibia borders en-route to Angola.
Informanté established that illegal immigrants from the impoverished West African countries enter the DRC legally because of the country’s lax immigration laws, where they meet Ausman who, through his connections at border posts, smuggles the immigrants into Zambia and Namibia illegally for at least US$550 each.
Investigations also revealed that most of the immigrants enter Namibia using the Wenela Border Post through an immigration authority contact before travelling to Oshikango.
Once the illegal immigrants enter Oshikango, they are under the care of Nwahin who smuggles them into Angola for US$1,300 for Nigerians and US$1,500 for non-Nigerians.
While waiting to be smuggled into Angola, the illegal immigrants who are often overcrowded and living under squalid conditions are kept in a filthy room behind Paulu’s Mini Restaurant next to Oshikango Garage.
The illegal immigrants are also alleged to be kept under strict isolation to avoid detection by the police or immigration officials.
Informanté journalists armed with a camera on 31 May 2010 around midday pounced on the room Nwahin keeps the illegal immigrants and found - two Nigerians, a 26 year-old man from Sierra Leone whose passport was last stamped in the DRC and a 42 year-old man from Mali whose passport identified him as Sanga Abramane. Abramane’s passport was stamped in the DRC before being stamped in Namibia despite him having passed through Zambia by road.
The two Nigerians fled from the house when Informanté arrived at the scene.
When contacted for comment a furious Nwahin denied being involved in the syndicate, claiming that he was a legitimate businessman.
He said the four illegal immigrants in the room were his young brother’s friends and when quizzed further, he said, “In our culture I cannot stay with my brother in a one- roomed flat. It’s not allowed.”
When Informanté visited Nwahin’s flat it established that although it’s a one bed-roomed flat it has a separate kitchen and lounge big enough to accommodate his so called brother.
“I am selling cars. People make stories to destabilise me. I bought that Jaguar and people are jealous of me. I have never taken someone into Angola illegally. I know who is giving you these stories. It’s Alina. She has a personal vendetta against me because I refused to sleep with her.”
Although Nwahin initially claimed he makes lots of money through selling cars later during our conversation, he revealed that the car business was not booming since this year he sold only one car for US$7,000.
Nwahin who is known in Oshikango for his high taste of good life defended his expensive life style saying the reason he bought himself the Jaguar with personalised number plates was to, “cool down my BP,” since he suffers from high blood pressure.
Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga said although he had not received an official report on the syndicate it was highly probable that it exists.
“It seems that a well organised human trafficking syndicate exists in Oshikango. The possibility is very high and not only is it human trafficking but also the illegal selling and buying of foreign currency and tax evasion. There is a lot of criminal activities happening in Oshikango,” he said.
Nigerian Embassy in Namibia, Head of Chancery, Sunday Fachano said they had yet not received reports of their nationals being involved in criminal activities.
“The Embassy is not aware of this. We are fighting crime. If we knew about this we would not hide it because we will not allow anything to dent our good relationship with Namibia.”
When contacted for comment the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Elia Kaiyamo refused to comment referring Informanté to the Minister, Rosalia Nghidinwa who was said to be out of the country.
Efforts to get comment from the Acting PS, a Mr Kasheya, before going to press also proved fruitless as he was said to be locked up in meetings throughout the day.
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