Ghana sentences tricycle rider for smuggling Nigerien migrants

The Denu Circuit Court has sentenced Mustapha Usman, a 32-year-old Nigerien tricycle rider, to seven months in prison for facilitating the illegal entry of four Nigerien migrants into Ghana.

Usman received three months for migrant smuggling and four months for causing a false representation, with the sentences to run concurrently. He pleaded guilty to both charges after the proceedings were translated into Hausa. The four migrants involved in the attempt have been repatriated.

According to the prosecution, Usman was a resident of Togo who was hired to transport the migrants from Lomé, Togo, to the Aflao border area for a fee of GHS200 per person. To evade immigration checks, the migrants were concealed in the bucket of his tricycle and covered to make it appear empty. An accomplice known as Remy, who remains at large, reportedly assisted in coordinating the transport of the loaded tricycle into Ghana. The operation was intercepted by officers from the Ghana Immigration Service Aflao Sector Command.