Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport has seen a deportation flight to Afghanistan, the state of Saxony’s interior ministry announced on Friday.
Since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, this is the first time that Afghans have been deported back to their native nation.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit stated in a statement, “These were Afghan nationals, all of whom were convicted offenders who had no right to stay in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued.”
At 6:56 a.m. (0456 GMT), a charter aircraft operated by Qatar Airways, transporting 28 Afghan criminals who had been extradited from different German states, departed Leipzig, the capital of the eastern state of Saxony, for Kabul.
The operation was coordinated by the federal Interior Ministry of Germany.
