Nine Nigerian men were repatriated yesterday on a flight funded by the EU after their appeals for asylum had been refused.

The flight, organised and financed by the EU border agency Frontex, originated from the Italian city of Perugia and made a stopover in Malta to pick up the nine men. Migrants who recently escaped from the Safi detention centre to avoid deportation were in the group, the Home Affairs ministry said.

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici thanked the police force, especially the immigration section, for their work.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.