NTB sends home 18 Afghan immigrants

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