Bogotá, October 17 (RHC-Xinhua) -- Travelers who lie on a questionnaire about the deadly disease of Ebola upon arrival at Colombia's airports might face a prison sentence between four to eight years, a border agency official said in Bogotá.

Travelers must supply all the information required by the border authorities when entering the country, in an effort to prevent the Ebola epidemic from spreading into the South American country, Colombia's immigration director Sergio Bueno was quoted by the country's Caracol radio network as saying.

"A citizen may be committing a crime by failing to give complete information according to the protocol established by the Ministry of Health," the director said.

Last week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced measures to strengthen border controls at airports throughout the country, at a time when other countries in Latin America were all doing the same to prevent the spread of the Ebola epidemic.