TheCable

Some 50 Nigerians were on Thursday deported from eight European countries for committing immigration-related offences.

The Nigerians were deported variously from Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary.

Their deportation is coming barely 48 hours after another set of 40 Nigerians were deported by the Italian government, for similar reasons.

According to NAN, the fresh batch of deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos at around 7:36am.

The deportees, comprising of 48 males and two females, were brought back in a chartered Privileged Time aircraft, with registration number EC-L20.

Joseph Alabi, spokesman of the Lagos airport police command, confirmed the development.

“This morning, we received 50 Nigerians who were brought back from Europe,” he said.

“We had three males from Switzerland; from Germany, we had seven males; from Sweden, we had four males, from Luxembourg, we had six males; from Austria, we had 18, comprising of 17 males and one female.

“From Belgium, we had only one female; from Spain, we had five males and finally from Hungary, we had six males, which makes it a total of 50.”

Alabi said all the deportees were alleged to have committed immigration-related offences in their host countries.

He said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the police.

Also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The deportees were allowed to depart to their various destinations after the authorities had profiled them.