The Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service has apprehended 39 Nigerien illegal immigrants in the state.

The NIS Controller in the state, Mrs. Abimbola Abiodun-Ojo, paraded the immigrants on Wednesday, warning that they could become security threats or harbinger of criminal activities.

Abiodun-Ojo, who spoke through the command's Public Relations Officer, Mr. Daniel Adeyemi, said the 39 suspects and their 10 children were arrested at different locations at Sango, Oke-Oyi in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

She said the immigrants would be repatriated to their country as soon as possible.

According to her, the NIS was not against foreigners visiting Nigeria to work or live but that they should follow the law and get relevant immigration documents and approvals.

Abiodun-Ojo said, "Following intelligence gathering, tip off and surveillance, we were able to arrest the immigrants and we have profiled them. We arrested some with camels whom we later discovered are Nigerians from Sokoto. We have since released the camels to them.

"We incorporated the Department of State Services in the screening and we all came to the conclusions that 16 males and 23 females are non-Nigerians that should be repatriated to their home country."

One of the apprehended immigrants, Mr. Jehu Tankari, said he came to Nigeria three days earlier to earn a living. He stated that he was selling native medicines, which he claimed could cure fever, rheumatism, malaria, typhoid, waist pain, and other ailments before he was nabbed.