Deportations of irregular immigrants rose sharply this year compared to 2020 and so were arrests of traffickers, according to police data released on Thursday.
In fact, compared to 2029, deportations this year have risen by eight times. And it is not over yet.
Specifically, up until last Friday, a total of 3,680 foreigners were either deported or returned to their countries voluntarily compared to 2,320 in 2021 and 1,272 in 2020.
In 2019, deportations were very limited and only totaled 417 but at the same time there was no explosion of immigration flows from the Turkish-held breakaway area.
Police spokesman Christos Andreou also told Philenews that the deportations or returns were mainly back to African countries such as Congo, Nigeria and Somalia but also to Syria and countries of Asia – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal. And in some rare cases back to Georgia.
Their countries of origin have to give approval for the return/deportation and this is not always easy, he also said.