July 7, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 6,1424

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LAHORE, July 6: Eighty Pakistanis deported from Italy for violating Italian immigration law arrived here by a chartered flight on Sunday.

The deportees were brought handcuffed by 90 Italian policemen, who handed them over to FIA officials.

Earlier, 160 Pakistanis were reportedly being deported from Italy on similar charges but half of them were detained for further interrogation, FIA sources said.

FIA officials took them into custody and released them after four hours of interrogation as they had already served imprisonment of various terms during their one year stay in the Italian capital.

The deportees, mostly aged between 25 to 35, went to Italy through indirect routes in 2002-03. Almost all of them went to Libya from Karachi and Islamabad from where they tried to enter Italy through ferries.

The deportees while talking to reporters said they were subjected to severe torture by the Italian policemen. The Italians asked them whether they had any links to any terror group.

They claimed that some 500 to 800 Asians including Pakistanis in various Italian prisons were awaiting deportation.

The deportees said that an NGO, Naga, helped to speed up their deportation cases else they would have been behind bars for some more time.

The chartered plane which brought the deportees returned with Italian policemen. Only five Italian officials stayed.

An Italian officer, Luigi Mragio, said that the deportees were handcuffed to ensure maximum security on board.