European countries deport 29 Nigerians in leg chains

Three European nations, Sweden, Norway and Spain, have deported 29 Nigerians and two Togolese nationals. The deportees, 27 Nigerian males, two females and two Togolese males, arrived Nigeria early Tuesday morning in leg chains.

Their flight, which landed at the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Lagos, at 6.45 a.m., was operated by Privilege Style aircraft, with registration number EC-IZO. An airport official said the 29 males were chained at the ankles because they were considered huge and could pose a threat to the immigration and police officials in the aircraft. “I can authoritatively confirm that the males were kept in chains out of fear that they might resist their arrest and deportation, but they removed the chains a few hours into the journey”, the source told Thisday.

“Other than the fact they were unwilling to return to their country, the deportees were very sad because of the ill-treatment they experienced in the hands of the officials. “One of them told me that the immigration and police officials were so despicable and rough in the way they treated the deportees,” the source told THISDAY. Some of the deported Nigerians had been held since last year and were prevented from communicating with their relatives and friends until it was time to bring them back to Nigeria. Confirming the deportation, spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the police. He said others at the airport to receive them were officials the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Alabi added that nine of the persons deported for alleged drug-related offences, were handed over to the NDLEA, while two others who were deported for criminal offences were handed over to the police. Alabi said the remaining deportees who allegedly committed immigration-related offences, were profiled and allowed to leave for their respective destinations.