By Ime Akpan
Lagos
Authorities in the United Kingdom and Australia have jointly deported 40 Nigerians for various immigration offences.
Blueprint learnt that the deportees comprising 29 males and seven females arrived at the Hajj camp of the International Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport at 7:25am in a chartered aircraft marked ZTA -4741.
Also, Air Seychelles marked SND-1 brought four males into the country for immigration offences.
Apart from Nigerians, Blueprint also learnt that the two country deported citizens of some other African countries including Ghana, Liberia and Egypt.
The returnees were received by various agencies such including the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) that checked their identities to ascertain their nationalities, the police, National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and other relevant stakeholders.
A source who spoke in confidence told Blueprint that some of the deportees were violent when the NIS personnel attached to the airport attempted to collect their fingerprints for data purpose.
The said source added that others who did not oppose the fingerprinting were swiftly attended to by the officers and were allowed to leave the airport after the completion of their documentation.
At the Hajj and cargo terminals of the airport, some of the deportees wore long faces and refused to speak.
Some were waiting for any available means to get out of the airport without attracting much attention to themselves while others were discussing in hushed tones.
The spokesman for Mr. Ekpedeme King who confirmed the deportation but could not give details said the service was still awaiting more information from its Lagos office.
