No fewer than 120 illegal aliens were repatriated by the Nigeria Immigration Service, Enugu State Command in 2014, the Comptroller, Bashir Ismail, has said.
Ismail, who spoke on Monday in Enugu during the command’s end of year party, said most of the illegal immigrants were from Niger Republic, while few were from Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Ghana.
He said: “The illegal aliens were nabbed in Nsukka and Udenu Local Government Areas as well as in Enugu urban.
“The command ensured that immigrants in Enugu State were legally documented in view of the security threats in some parts of the country.
“We maintained adequate surveillance in all parts of the state to ensure a good relationship between aliens and their host communities.”
Ismail said one of the most outstanding achievements of the Command was the arrest and deportation of one Hassan Koffi, a human traffic kingpin.
He said: “Koffi specialised in trafficking women for prostitution and when we laid siege on him.
“He was arrested and deported immediately.”
The comptroller said that the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to its current status had added additional responsibility to the command.
Ismail said that his men had ensured that travellers were given the needed assistance and checks in line with their mandate.
He said: “This feat will not have been easy to achieve without a good working relationship between the command and the state government.
“We equally commend the professionalism exhibited by our men to ensure that our operations this year were a huge success.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of the Command’s Welfare Association, Innocent Onyeabor, said that the party was organised to thank God for leading them through a successful 2014.