The Italian government has deported 40 Nigerians for committing various offences in the country.

The latest deportation comes less than a month after 37 Nigerians were deported from Italy on March 8. Two weeks before that, another 33 Nigerians were also deported from the European county on February 23.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the latest deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos on Tuesday night.

The deportees, who are all male, were brought back in a chartered aircraft with registration number EL-SMU/3737.

Joseph Alabi, the spokesperson of the Lagos Airport Police Command, confirmed the development.

Mr. Alabi, a deputy superintendent of police, said 39 of the deportees were alleged to have committed immigration-related offences while one of them was allegedly involved in drug dealing.

He said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, and the Police.

Also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

NAN gathered that the deportees were profiled by immigration authorities while those without serious charges were allowed to depart to their various destinations.

Thousands of Nigerians travel to Italy annually via Libya and the Mediterranean seeking greener pastures.

While some of the travellers make it to Italy where they are treated as refugees, many are trapped in Libya while some others die while crossing the Mediterranean.