NTB sends home 18 Afghan immigrants

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: At least 18 Afghan immigrants have been repatriated from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), where they had been staying for more than one year.

Spokesman for the province's police, Adj. Sr. Comr. H.M. Basri, said here on Wednesday that the illegal immigrants had been sent back to Afghanistan on Feb. 25.

"The immigrants, who had been accommodated over one year in a number of places across NTB, were repatriated voluntarily. It was funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)," he explained.

Basri said another 140 illegal immigrants were being accommodated in the Wisata Hotel, Nusantara Hotel and Tambora Sumbawa Hotel in the provincial capital of Mataram.

The IOM was covering the daily living expenses of the stranded immigrants during their stay in NTB, he added. It was not clear when they would join the voluntary repatriation program. --Antara