Another four irregular immigrants left Malta to be repatriated to Nigeria today after their application for asylum was refused, the Home Affairs Ministry said.

A group of 10 migrants was repatriated yesterday.

The ministry said the migrants were flown to Madrid this afternoon from where they will be picked up tomorrow on a joint flight being organised tomorrow for Lagos in Nigeria by The Netherlands and Frontex. The flight will leave the Netherlands and stop in Madrid before continuing to Lagos.

The flight will include other immigrants who were in other European countries.

For the repatriation, the government and the police in the past weeks worked with representatives from Nigeria to carry out the necessary verifications and the required travel documents were issued for the migrants.

This work will continue following the signing of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Maltese and Nigerian government during the EU-Africa summit. The MOU ensure that the migrants' human rights would be treated and they would be reintegrated in Nigerian society.

A substantial part of the expenses for the operation were being paid from European funds, the government said.

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