Twenty third-country nationals, who were illegally in Cyprus, left last night for their country, as part of a coordinated, joint forced return operation, organized by the FRONTEX organization. A total of nine European countries participated in the operation, while for the first time Cyprus was the focal point of the operation.
Through the operation, in which Greece, Romania, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Malta, Spain and Sweden participated in addition to Cyprus, a total of 67 third-country nationals were repatriated.
Cyprus was chosen for the first time as the focal point of the FRONTEX operation. The missions of the remaining countries arrived in Cyprus, where they boarded the main aircraft of the operation and departed for the final destination of the mission.
The mission was accompanied by 34 members of the Police, as well as 13 officials of FRONTEX (FRONTEX Return Escort and Support Officers).
In another development, in a second repatriation operation, which was also carried out yesterday, another eight citizens of the same third country, who were illegally in Cyprus, returned to their country.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,680 third-country nationals have been repatriated, through voluntary and forced return procedures.