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General News of Wednesday, 7 November 2001

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29 Ghanaians deported from Spain

Twenty-nine Ghanaians who illegally entered Spain were on Tuesday evening deported to Accra.

The deportees, all males, whose ages ranged between 23 and 41 were accompanied by four Spanish immigration officers on board a Spanish chartered airline from Las Palmas, where they had been kept in detention camps for 45 days.

On board the same aircraft were 90 Senegalese and 45 Nigerians who were also deported from Spain.

The deportees were being sent home at the expense of the Spanish government.

Jose Garcia Santalla, Director of the Spanish Immigration, who led the escort team said the deportees entered Spain through Morocco after travelling from Libya through the desert, where they crossed the straight of Gibraltar.

He said Spain had been experiencing an influx of illegal immigrants attempting to enter European Union Countries.

Razak Ibrahim 23, the youngest among the deportees who hails from Brong Ahafo told newsmen that he embarked on the journey to Spain from Burkina Faso.

He said, he passed through Niger, entered Libya, stayed for two and half years before being picked up at the shores of Morocco in his bid to enter Spain.

Stephen Badu, 41, who is also from Brong Ahafo, said at the time of leaving, there were 23 Ghanaians, among other nationals, in Lanzarote Camp in Spain awaiting their fate.