The Nigeria Immigration Service, Delta State Command, has repatriated at least 712 illegal immigrants captured in Delta to their respective countries.
The illegal immigrants, who are mostly from neighbouring West African countries, were reportedly captured by the command in a routine “mop-up exercise”.
“In our effort to control the influx of irregular immigrants in Delta State, we have embarked on this mop-up exercise across the length and breadth of the State to remove undocumented immigrants, this is a routine operation,” Mr. Madu Musa, the command’s comptroller, said in a statement on Wednesday.
He added: “As expected in an exercise of this nature, thousands of persons were apprehended, but after thorough screening, Nigerians and other legally resident foreigners were released, while seven hundred and twelve persons (712), so far have been confirmed as irregular immigrants, mainly of West African extraction, and have been repatriated.”
While stating that the Delta State Government had greatly assisted the command in terms of logistics, Musa said more still had to be done as the ongoing exercise was an ongoing one.