15 stowaways awaiting deportation

SINCE May, 15 stowaways have been arrested at the port of Walvis Bay and are now awaiting deportation.

Two of the 15 men are juveniles.The stowaways include Nigerians, Tanzanians and Ghanaians. Five were taken into custody during May, eight in June; and two last Thursday.’Stowaways are becoming a serious concern to the Namibian police because their security becomes our responsibility,’ said Erongo Police Commissioner Samuel //Hoëbeb at a press conference in Walvis Bay yesterday.//Hoëbeb said the men were in ‘healthy condition’ and arrangements have been made with their respective embassies and the immigration department for their deportation.Stowaways illegally board ships and hide for as long as they can, hoping to be taken to a country where they can have better lives than at home. Usually stowaways are from third-world nations.They risk their lives most of the time, going hungry and cold for days and even weeks. If they are discovered, they face imprisonment and deportation. There have even been reports of stowaways being thrown overboard by ship captains.