LATE yesterday evening, Forty Nigerians were brought back into the country after being deported from Italy for immigration and criminal offences.
The deportees, comprising males and females were returned to the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos at around 8:25pm and were brought into Nigeria aboard Air Meridiana aircraft with the registration number E1-FNU.
The deportation is coming barely four days after the United Kingdom Government repatriated 23 Nigerians for similar offences.
An immigration source told our correspondent that 39 of the deportees were returned because of immigration offences while one, a male was returned because of his involvement in drug related matters.
The immigration source said that the deportee with drug related issues would be handed over to police for further prosecution while 39 others were profiled by the officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service attached to the airport.
The deportees were not allowed to speak to the media by some security officials at the airport.