FIFTY Nigerian deportees alleged to have committed offences in the United Kingdom (UK) arrived in Lagos yesterday.
The 44 men and six women were flown into Nigeria about 6.30am in a chartered B767 aircraft belonging to PITAN Airways. They were screened at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
A source at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said some of them were deported for immigration-related offences.
Those alleged to have committed criminal offences were handed over to officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Others were directed by airport security agents to find their way to their homes.
Some of the deportees called their friends and relations to pick them up. Others hired cars to take them home.
One of the deportees, who pleaded not to be named, said he had a dual citizenship of Nigeria and Netherlands and that he was picked up on his way to the studio.
He claimed that he was stranded as he did not have any relation in Lagos.
But a source noted that FAAN was expecting 500 deportees, adding that this was the first batch.
The Acting Nigerian High Commissioner in the UK, Mr. Olukunle Bamgbose, had said the UK government planned to deport 29,000 Nigerians.
