AN immigration officer arrested on allegations of facilitating illegal stay of two Chinese nationals in the country was cleared of the charges by a Harare magistrate.

Blessing Chirumarara, who was stationed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport was cleared of the charges after a full trial.

Allegations were that a team of immigration officers led by Principal Immigration Officer Fadzai Jayne Matarise went to Belgravia to conduct compliance checks and approached Mr Song Changyu, who produced his passport.

The team then checked the travel history endorsements and the visitor's entry certificate that were on his passport and the endorsements in question were dated December 24, 2019.

The team became suspicious and engaged their colleagues, who work at the airport to verify the authenticity of the travel history.

It was allegedly discovered that all the visas had been fraudulently acquired at the airport after the foreigner connived with Chirumarara.

Mr Song was arrested and he allegedly confessed during questioning that he had paid Chirumarara a bribe.

After his arrest, Principal Immigration Officer Godfrey Kondo was assigned to handle the case and discovered that Mr Song had been unlawfully issued with a visa entry certificate on December 24, 2019.

Chirumarara was arrested and taken to the Harare Magistrates court where she was cleared of the offence after a full trial.