On Wednesday, the Cyprus Police announced that a joint forced return operation, coordinated by FRONTEX, had successfully repatriated 23 third-country nationals who were illegally in Cyprus on Tuesday night.
The operation involved a total of 67 third-country nationals who were illegally staying in other EU countries, including Greece, Romania, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Malta, Spain, and Sweden.
The mission was coordinated in Cyprus, which was chosen as the hub of the FRONTEX operation and was accompanied by 34 police officers and 13 FRONTEX Return Escort and Support Officers.
In a second repatriation operation also conducted on Tuesday, eight other nationals of the same third country who were illegally in Cyprus returned to their country.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,680 third-country nationals have been repatriated through voluntary and forced return procedures.
[With information from CNA]
