TRIPOLI, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration said Tuesday eight illegal immigrants were voluntarily deported from Libya to their country, according to a local official.
Husni Abu-Ayana, spokesman of Libya's Anti-Illegal Immigration Department, said that the immigrants consist of four men and four women. They departed from the capital Tripoli to Lagos in Nigeria.
The return of the immigrants is part of the organization's Voluntary Return Program, which arranges the return of immigrants stranded in Libya back to their countries of origin.
Migrant shelters in Libya are crowded with thousands of migrants who have been rescued at sea or arrested by Libyan security services.
Libya has become a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe due to insecurity and chaos in the North African country following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
