Forty Ghanaians living in the United States of America have been deported by the US government for engaging in alleged criminal acts, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has announced.

The GIS indicated that the deportees were charged for engaging in offences ranging from trafficking of banned substances, assault, vehicle theft, burglary, fraud, domestic violence and immigration-related issues.

In a statement on Monday, 19 August 2019 said the deportees on arrival in the country were taken through a vigorous screening exercise to ascertain whether or not they were Ghanaians..

The statement said: “The KIA Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, has received forty (40) deportees from the United States of America on board a chartered flight, Omni Air International Boeing 777-OAE328.

“The Ghanaians, aged between 21 and 70, comprising thirty-eight (38) males and two (2) females were deported for various offences ranging from trafficking of banned substances, assault, vehicle theft, burglary, fraud, domestic violence and immigration-related issues.

“Thirty-eight (38) of them arrived on a travel certificate issued by the Ghana Mission in Washington DC, USA, while two (2) of them [arrived] on Ghana passports.”

The statement added: “The deportees are coming from the various regions in the country with sixteen (16) of them from Greater Accra, ten (10) from the Ashanti Region, two (2) from Bono, two (2) from Western, two (2) from Central; 3, Eastern and 3 from the Volta Region.

“They were admitted into the country after going through the needed disembarkation formalities including screening to authenticate their nationalities.”