About 258 voluntary returnees, including four children and one infant, 233 males and 25 females, arrived in Lagos from Libya on Thursday aboard a chartered Airbus A330-200 with registration mark 5A-LAT operated by Libya Airlines.
Their return was facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian embassy in Libya.
The returnees were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.
Addressing newsmen, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, the newly appointed Director-General of NAPTIP, said the agency was particularly interested in those that were trafficked.
“After the profiling have been done, for those that have been trafficked, we will take them away to our shelters,” she said.
According to her, the agency is working with the international community to clamp down on the trafficking syndicate.
“They are doing their investigation and very soon we will be able to come out with effective results,” she said.
Also, Dr Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said some of the returnees had medical issues.
He said some of them were suffering from depression and malnutrition, while one person sustained gun injury.
NEMA had alerted on Wednesday that 250 Nigerians would voluntarily return to the country from Libya on Thursday.
More than 253 Nigerians had on April 25 voluntarily returned from Libya aboard a chartered Libya Airlines — Airbus A330-200 — with registration no. 5A-LAT.
The returnees comprise 102 males, 140 females and 11 children.
Source: NAN
