Some immigration personnel said to be on a special operation are currently stranded at a small border village in the Tempane district called Kpikpira near Nakpanduri in the North East Region.

The officers, according to local authorities, had been deployed to the area to tighten border security during the voters' registration exercise which ended months ago.

With no vehicle and other resources for their operation, the officers had been putting up at the palace of the community chief, Naaba Dazuur II, who was providing both financial and logistical support for their exercise.

Unfortunately, the palace was destroyed following a fire outbreak allegedly caused by a gas cylinder explosion owned by one of the immigration officers.

JoyNews' correspondent Eliasu Tanko travelled to Kpikpira, where the officers are now displaced and stranded. The officers are now said to be lodging in an uncompleted school building, sparking tension between the community chief, Naaba Dazuur II, and the DCE, Emmanuel Avoka Asore, who is blaming the chief for receiving the officers in the community and asking for them to be sent back "to wherever they came from".

The chief explained the situation to JoyNews and criticised the DCE for asking him to sack the officers from the area and called on the immigration high command in Accra to intervene to ensure the welfare of the stranded officers.

The DCE for Tempane was not available to comment as several requests to him went unanswered.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Service in the region has confirmed the incident but said the officers involved had not been deployed from Accra.

The Public Relations Officer of the Immigration Service in the area, Assistant Superintendent Martin Tioseh Soyeh told JoyNews the officers had been stationed at the Pulmakom border and were only sent to the area as part of the operation during the registration exercise.