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Zambia’s Department of Immigration has arrested seven suspects and seized 372 passports as it investigates a suspected human smuggling syndicate allegedly operating under the cover of a travel agency.
Authorities are also pursuing an eighth suspect believed to be linked to the network, which is suspected of producing and supplying forged identity and travel documents to facilitate illegal migration involving both Zambians and foreign nationals.
Department of Immigration Chief Public Relations Officer, Namati Nshinka, confirmed the arrests in a statement issued on Thursday, saying the operation followed a formal complaint from a foreign embassy in Lusaka concerning suspicious documents submitted by Jean-Claude Sibomana, a 40-year-old Burundian refugee.
Sibomana was apprehended on August 1, 2025, shortly after leaving the embassy. He was found in possession of a Zambian National Registration Card (NRC) and passport bearing the name Oscar Musonda, raising immediate concerns about the authenticity and origin of the documents.
Interrogation led officers to two more suspects: John Zuze Peter (43), believed to be Congolese, and Aristides Ngengurutse (34), a Burundian refugee.
They were apprehended at a garage in Lusaka’s Buseko area. A subsequent search of Ngengurutse’s Ng’ombe compound residence yielded two Burundian passports, a laptop, computer, mobile phones, refugee documents, and other papers.
Inside his BMW X-Series, officers found a Ghanaian passport and a Zambian police report, further deepening suspicion.
Investigators then raided the Kasupe area residence of Evariste Niyokwizera (41), another Burundian refugee. A search of his Mercedes Benz (BAJ 6966) uncovered a large cache of travel documents suspected to have been used or intended for use in immigration fraud.
Recovered from the vehicle were:
• 212 Burundian passports
• 44 Zambian passports
• 20 Zambian refugee passports
• Eight Rwandan, seven Nigerian, two Cameroonian, one Bangladeshi, and one Zimbabwean passport
A further search at Afroconet Travel and Tours, a business linked to Niyokwizera and located on Cairo Road, yielded:
• 28 Zambian passports
• Seven Zambian NRCs
• Two Zambian refugee passports
• Eight Burundian passports
• 27 Congolese passports
• Two each from Sierra Leone and Kenya
• Two South African refugee cards
• One passport each from Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda, and South Africa
• Two firearms and a computer
“The sheer volume and diversity of recovered passports point to a well-coordinated transnational network facilitating human smuggling, irregular migration, and visa fraud,” Nshinka said.
Read More: Immigration nabs 53 suspected illegal immigrants in Lusaka
A fifth suspect, John Mulinda Chiwenda (55), a Zambian national, was arrested on August 2, 2025, at his shop at Millennium Bus Station. Officers seized two computers, a mobile phone, and forgery tools, including:
• 36 institutional seals, mainly for European and Asian universities
• 106 rubber date stamps
• 16 assorted rubber stamps
• Numerous forged academic records and ID documents.
Nshinka said this indicated Chiwenda’s alleged role in producing fraudulent academic and identity documents used in visa applications.
Two more suspects were arrested in Ndola on August 6, 2025: a 35-year-old Assistant Registration Officer based at the Ndola Passport Office and Augustine Phiri (31), both allegedly linked to the supply of passports and forged identification documents.
Preliminary findings suggest the syndicate was involved in producing and distributing forged documents—including passports, refugee cards, academic transcripts, and institutional stamps—to facilitate visa applications and identity fraud.
All seven suspects are currently detained pending further investigations, while one more suspect remains at large.
“Due to the cross-cutting nature of the offences, the Department of Immigration has brought in other security wings to support the investigation,” Nshinka said.
He urged the public to report suspicious immigration-related activity, reiterating the Department’s commitment to dismantling networks that threaten internal security through fraudulent immigration practices.
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