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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
THREE Gambian nationals have been deported after a month-long illegal stay in the country.
The three who are brothers, Sissoho Abdau, 20, Bubaccar Jallow, 36, and Susso Nuha, 27, entered the country through an illegal entry point near the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border in November.

They were arrested on December 29 at the Plumtree Border Post while they were trying to leave the country for Botswana.

The trio pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in the country without a permit or visitor entry requirement before Plumtree magistrate, Livard Philemon.

They were each fined $50, failure of which they would spend 21 days in prison.

The Gambians were later surrendered to immigration officials for deportation.

In mitigation, the three Gambians told the court that they were not familiar with some of the requirements involved when entering a country.

They said it was their first time to leave their country and they were not aware they had to acquire travelling documents.

The brothers said they were not aware that they entered the country illegally as they were given directions to follow.

“We beg for mercy. We’re poor and we don’t have money. We promise to go back home,” said Jallow as he pleaded for the court’s leniency on behalf of his siblings.

Prosecuting, Clemence Shawarira said the three Gambian nationals stayed in the country without permits or visitors’ entry permits.

“The three men presented themselves to an immigration official at the Plumtree Border Post and produced their Gambian passports.
The immigration officials discovered that there was no indication of an entry clearance on each passport,” said Shawarira.

He said each of the three men did not have a permit or visitors’ entry certificate from the Department of Immigration resulting in their immediate arrest.