A Libyan aircraft carrying 257 Nigerians has landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Wednesday. They arrived a few hours after 144 of their compatriots voluntarily returned from the Maghreb nation.
The returnees were said to have arrived aboard a Libyan Airlines aircraft at the Cargo Wing of the airport at about 1.30 a.m. They were assisted back to the country by the International Organisation for Migration and the European Union, spokesperson for the Lagos Airport Police Command Joseph Alabi said.
"We received another batch of Nigerians early this morning from Libya,” Alabi is quoted by NAN to have said. "They comprised of 65 adult females, 179 adult males, seven children and six infants.”He also confirmed that four of the returnees had medical cases and were promptly taken away on an ambulance for treatment.
Nigerians and other migrants from sub-saharan countries were reportedly among those being allegedly traded for $400 to merchants. A report by Cable News Network (CNN) had revealed that some migrants from sub-saharan Africa, who want to cross the Mediterranean sea to Europe, were being sold as slaves. But the Libyan government, through its embassy in Nigeria, said the CNN report was a campaign against the Maghreb nation.