Fifty Nigerians were, yesterday, deported from eight European countries over what Department of State Services, DSS, airport command said were immigration and drug-related offences.

The latest deportees arrived Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, on a chartered aircraft with flight number P6-6991 in the early hours of yesterday.

DSS said the deportees were from Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Hungary and Sweden.

This latest deportation is coming barely 48 hours after 40 Nigerians were deported for same reasons from Italy and a week earlier 23 Nigerians were equally repatriated from the United Kingdom.

Yesterday’s deportees comprised of 47 males and three females. Three of the deportees were repatriated for drug-related issues, while 47 others were returned for immigration offences.

Forty-seven of the returnees were said to have either entered the European countries with fake documents, through illegal channels or had overstayed in the countries after the expiration of their visiting visas.

On arrival, officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, at the airport, profiled the deportees while those with criminal offences were handed over to Nigeria Police for prosecution.

The DSS said: “Nigerians are nowadays regularly deported from different countries, including some African countries. The rate is very alarming and another batch of Nigerians may be deported next week for same offences.”

Recall that in February, 43 Nigerians were deported from three European countries— Germany, Belgium and Italy.

On March 23, 155 Nigerians were assisted by International Organisation for Migration, IOM, to return to Nigeria from Libya after they were unable to cross the war-torn North African country to Europe for greener pastures.

The returnees, mainly in their 20s and 30s, according to National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, were picked up from various prisons and detention camps in Libya by IOM.

Among the returnees were three medical cases. One of the returnees had paralysis, the other a psychiatric case, while the last was a minor ailment.

All were being catered for by a team of IOM and Port Authority’s doctors shortly after arrival.

A total of 171 were deported from Libya on March 7, another 171 on February 21, while 161 voluntarily returned with the support of the IOM on February 14.

Vanguard