Seven flights used for repatriation last year

The police last year chartered seven planes to fly illegal immigrants back to their country of origin, assistant commissioner Andrew Seychell said.

Four of the flights went to Eritrea, while the others went to Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria.

A total of 1,686 illegal immigrants arrived in Malta last year, of which just over 500 are still here.

Mr Seychell said so far this year there had been no cases of clandestine migrants landing in Malta. It appeared they had changed their bearings and were generally heading towards Lampedusa, instead of Pozzallo, which was their destination each time they ended up in Malta, he said.

Mr Seychell said illegal migrants had not planned to come to Malta but ended up here either by mistake or because their boats developed faults or were damaged.

Recently a fisherman reported to the police that he had encountered a boat carrying illegal immigrants outside Maltese territorial waters. As the boat appeared to be having problems, the fisherman told them he would be calling Maltese patrol boats to assist them but the immigrants started shouting "Leave us alone. We don't want to go to Malta".

Mr Seychell said dealing with illegal immigrants was very taxing on police resources and very costly.

"Instead of manning police stations, policemen are assigned duties to escort or be on guard in places where the immigrants are kept. On average, eight immigrants a day ask to be taken to hospitals and clinics, and they have to be escorted," he said.

But one of the biggest difficulties the police face is establishing the real identities of the illegal immigrants. Most arrive in Malta without valid travel documents or identity cards. Some keep changing their names and places of origin, making it difficult for the police to repatriate them.

"Repatriating them is a big expense. There are no direct flights to many countries from where the immigrants come and a policeman or soldier is sent with each immigrant for security reasons," he said.

The fare for a passage to countries such as Eritrea and Ghana is Lm600-Lm700.

Repatriation is often made more difficult because some airlines do not accept travellers with the kind of travel document issued to illegal immigrants. As most of them have no passport, a travel document valid for a single journey to their country of origin is issued. But because of the issue of connecting flights, some airlines refuse to carry such passengers as they would not want to assume responsibility in case someone fails to make the connection.

Last October, the London-based Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights criticised the government for sending back to their homeland some 223 Eritreans. About 170 of them had not applied for refugee status.

The group had claimed that the deported Eritreans were detained and tortured in prison upon arrival.

Amnesty International had said the Eritreans "were said to have been immediately arrested on arrival in Asmara and taken to a military camp, where they were detained incommunicado".

But a Home Affairs spokesman had insisted that the claims were being spewed out by a London-based movement whose main interest was to create unrest in Eritrea.

Some Eritreans in Malta who are resisting deportation have instituted a constitutional court case over the issue.

Several Air Malta pilots and police officers who testified last week said they saw no police or military presence when the immigrants left the aircraft which repatriated them. Some of the pilots, who went to the terminal building to settle the aircraft landing charges, even saw relatives greeting the arriving migrants.

Captain Joseph Sciberras, who piloted two of the flights to Asmara in Eritrea, said he had seen relatives hugging the migrants on arrival.

Capt. Sciberras, like other captains and police officers, described the terminal building as being "like the old one that used to exist in Malta". As the building was small, one could see what was going on, he explained.

He said he had expected to see police or military presence upon arrival but by the time he had disembarked to settle the landing fees, the immigrants were already out of the terminal building.

Captain Vjikoslav Medic, another Air Malta pilot, testified there was no military presence at the airport and passengers disembarked freely, spoke to cabin crew and were greeted by people who were waiting for them.

Superintendent Paul Debattista, who was in charge of the Immigration Section within the Special Branch, said the UNHCR had been furnished with details of all the immigrants who were going to be deported as well as the flight details.

No UNHCR officials were at the airport when they arrived. Just two immigration officers checked the travel documents.