The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has started deporting 192 foreign nationals convicted of internet fraud in the country.
Gatekeepers News reports that the first group of 42 convicts was deported on Sunday, while additional batches are scheduled to be airlifted to their respective countries on Monday and Tuesday.
Their arrest dates back to December 2024, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) apprehended 792 members of a fraud syndicate linked to cryptocurrency and romance scams.
The suspects were arrested in a seven-storey building in Victoria Island, Lagos, which was reportedly being used to train Nigerians on initiating romance and investment scams.
Those arrested included 114 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Khazartans, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian. At the time, the EFCC described the raid as the “largest single-day” arrest of internet fraudsters in Nigeria.
The suspects were later arraigned at the Federal High Court in Lagos, and by June, some of the foreign nationals had been convicted.
The court ordered the Comptroller-General of Immigration to repatriate them within seven days of completing their prison sentences.
In July, EFCC also secured the final forfeiture of digital assets valued at $222,729 from some of the convicted Chinese nationals.
