Refugees found in fuel tanker

2007-02-27 22:21

Blantyre - Forty-six Ethiopians, believed to be refugees who bolted from a camp in southern Malawi, were arrested on Tuesday at a border town after they hid in an empty fuel tanker, that was heading to Mozambique.

Ford Mwalweni, an immigration official in charge of Mwanza border post, about 80km from Blantyre, said the tanker was intercepted shortly before dawn after he received a tip-off.

"We were checking tanker by tanker and we found them in one tanker which was open on top," said Mwalweni.

He said the refugees, who all looked tired and hungry and had their clothes soaked in oil, were from the nearby Luwani camp, one of the two camps in Malawi housing hundreds of refugees from war-torn east and west African nations.

The tanker driver, who was also arrested, told police he had been paid $700 by a middleman to ferry the refugees to the Mozambican border post of Zobue, from where they would have made their way to South Africa.

Police spokesperson Willie Mwaluka said the driver would be charged with human trafficking and that the search for the middleman was under way.

- AFP