Faith Nyasuguta
Ahmed Afif, the Vice-President of Seychelles, has disclosed that drug trafficking is the major reason the country has placed a ban on vacationers from Nigeria.
Afif explained that the country had witnessed an increase in the volume of controlled substances being smuggled into the country by Nigerians under the guise of tourism.
He further stated that many organised credit card frauds and online scams had been linked to Nigerians.
The ban affects only applicants for short-stay permits, nevertheless. Applications by holders of diplomatic passports, valid work or resident permits would be granted.
“For the others, the government will keep its eyes open and SEBS (Seychelles Electronic Border System) will analyse much more to find out what reasons they are coming, for example someone who is coming for a holiday for only one day. We have to ask questions because it is strange and we have seen that happening,” Seychelles News Agency quoted Afif to have said.
“We have seen a clear link between this with certain people from Nigeria. In the past two weeks, for example, 13 people coming from Nigeria have been arrested when entering Seychelles because they were carrying drugs into the country.”
“In one case, 62 Nigerians who said they were on holiday used false credit cards and the money was never credited to the accounts of these establishments.”
“These establishments have lost money. These people spent free holidays in the country at the expense of the establishment owners, and there is nothing that can be done for them.”
He said that the ban was meant to check the level of crimes in the country and it had nothing to do with the bilateral relations between Seychelles and Nigeria.
“We do not have a problem with Nigeria or its people though we do not tolerate such criminal activities in our country. There are other online scams originating from Nigeria. We have seen that these people are also coming to Seychelles and doing those scams,” he said.
“When we checked the payments made for them to come to Seychelles, it was from only one source. This is for different people coming on different days, which shows an organized syndicate,” the vice president of the island nation said.
The Seychelles local newspaper hinted that the country was considering how Nigerians convicted in the country could be handed over to Nigerian authorities.
Nigeria previously had visa free access to Seychelles.
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