Three European nations, Sweden, Norway and Spain in the wee hours of Tuesday brought in 29 Nigerians and two Togolese to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos with the males in leg chains.
The flight was operated by Privilege Style aircraft with registration number EC-IZO and landed at about 6:45 am.
The passengers onboard the flight include 27 Nigerian males and two females in addition to two Togolese males who dropped in Nigeria, just as the flight took off by 8:30 am to Ghana from Nigeria.
THISDAY learnt that nine of the Nigerian passengers were deported for alleged drug trafficking, while the rest were sent back t their father land due to immigration offences.
One of the insiders who spoke to THISDAY disclosed that by the time the deportees were taken on board the flight the males were placed on leg chains on the case that they were huge and could overpower the immigration and police officials.
“I can authoritatively confirm that the males are kept in chains because of the fear that they might resist their arrest and deportation so they placed them on leg chains, but they removed the chains few hours into the journey. The deportees were very sad because of the ill-treatment besides the fact that they were not willing to return to their country. One of them told me that they were so despicable and rough in the way they treated the deportees,” the source told THISDAY.
Some of the deported Nigerians, THISDAY learnt, had been held for several months since last year, kept out of reach from communicating to their relatives and possibly friends, until it was time to bring them back to Nigeria.
The spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi confirmed the development.
Alabi said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.
He said also on ground to receive them were officials the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to him, nine of the suspects, who were deported for drug-related offences, were handed over to the NDLEA.
He further disclosed that 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 go to their respective destinations.
THISDAY
