People smugglers are using the porous borders at Upper River Region (URR) to bring in people from neighbouring Senegal in breach of the lockdown put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

According to reports 43 people have already been smuggled into the country through URR. 

The people being smuggled included Gambians and other foreign nationals resident in the country. 

Villagers are concerned about the illegal immigration and urged the government to take actions against the smugglers who are endangering them. 

The governor for URR, Fanta Samateh said they were doing everything possible to smash the smuggling ring and that people had been intercepted for breaching the border closure.

“There’s serious monitoring and supervision currently going on in the region especially within the border areas by all security apparatus in the region especially immigration so that they could arrest people attempting to enter in the country at this time,” she said. 

The governor disclosed that the people that were intercepted by the immigration officials were taken into quarantine in line with the Health ministry’s coronavirus guidelines.

Gambia is in lockdown until May as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s land and sea borders are closed for all travellers. Only essential goods including food and medical items are allowed to be transported across the border.