Thirty-six Nigerians have been deported from four European countries in a joint operation that saw 41 people flown to Nigeria and Ghana.

According to the Austrian news outlet Heute.at, on Friday, “three Nigerians” were deported from Austria, while “29 Nigerians” were deported from Germany, “two Nigerians” from Luxembourg and “one Nigerian” from Hungary.

The deportees were flown out on a charter flight between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with Lagos in Nigeria and Accra in Ghana listed as the destinations.

Germany organised the operation, with Austria, Luxembourg and Hungary also participating in the charter deportation.

The report said Germany accounted for the largest number of deportees, with “35 people” on board, comprising “29 Nigerians, five Ghanaians, and one Gambian.”

One of the three Nigerians deported from Austria had previously been convicted of drug-related offences, the report said.

Commenting on Austria’s deportation policy, the country’s Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, said the government would continue removing illegal residents and criminal offenders.

“The negative net migration is being continued through a consistent deportation policy. Never before have so many illegal residents and criminal offenders been removed from the country by Austrian authorities as in the first half of this year. We will continue on this necessary path undeterred,” Karner said.

The latest deportation comes after Germany deported 137 Nigerians in five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to an earlier report by The PUNCH.

The five flights saw 27 Nigerians deported in February, 37 in March, 24 in April, 23 in May and 26 in June.

The latest operation was organised as European countries continued deporting foreign nationals who had no legal right to remain in their territories or had been convicted of offences.