The Zambian Department of Immigration has deported 242 illegal immigrants following a mass removal operation this week.

The deportees consist of 217 Burundians, 15 Tanzanians, eight Rwandese and two Congolese.

The group included foreign nationals, who either paid court-imposed fines or served prison sentences for various immigration-related offences. 

Others were among the 165 suspected illegal immigrants apprehended during a clean-up operation conducted in January in various parts of the capital, Lusaka. 

This latter group was not prosecuted.

The operation was aimed at decongesting correctional facilities, which had reached capacity.

Zambia's Immigration Department Chief Public Relations Officer, Namati Nshika, urged the public to continue cooperating with the department and reporting suspected immigration offences.