It has emerged that a total of 3,556 Ghanaians who travelled to various countries around the world were deported in 2014.

The breakdown involved; 2,618 deportees who came on commercial flights; 76 came as mass deportees; 725 were inadmissible, which means they got to the airport of the country of destination but were refused entry; and 137 were removed or refused entry.

Additionally, 93 Ghanaians returned home through voluntary repatriation while 77 stowaways were arrested and deported to Ghana.

Libya topped the list with the most deportees of 1,127 followed by Saudi Arabia with 229 deportees, with the United Kingdom (UK) in third position with 88 deportees. The United States of America deported 54 Ghanaians, and South Africa in fifth position with 45 Ghanaian deportees.

It must be emphasized that Ghanaians continue to be deported on commercial flights, hence the huge numbers for deportees during the year under review.

Stop/Watch list

The Document Fraud Office of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), said it faces difficulties with agencies that place individuals on stop list.

This is because when cases are resolved they do not get back to the Command for the necessary action to be taken. In the meantime, their suspects become furious when they are stopped when, apparently, matters have been resolved.

2013 Deportees

Data from the GIS revealed that as many as 2,940 Ghanaians were deported to Ghana last year while the number of Ghanaians who were refused entry into the various countries they were travelling to at airports amounted to 676.

The United Kingdom tops the list of European countries while Libya deported the highest number of Ghanaians. The deportees came from several countries such as Germany,Holland, Canada, United States of America(USA), Spain and Saudi Arabia.

According to the data, a total of 237 Ghanaians were voluntarily repatriated from various countries to Ghana last year.

The GIS information also indicates that 179 people who hid aboard ships (stowaways) in order to obtain free passage into other countries were also arrested and deported to Ghana.