Two Criminals Removed under International Agreement
Media Release - DPS 89/2002
A further two criminals have been deported from Australia to Vietnam under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vietnamese Government, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs confirmed today.
Australasian Correctional Management officers aboard commercial aircraft escorted the two men to Vietnam in separate removals on 8 and 18 November 2002.
The men had been held in immigration detention prior to departure: one at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in Victoria, and one at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in New South Wales.
"The successful return of criminal deportees under the MOU can be attributed to the high level of cooperation extended by both governments to the return arrangements," a Departmental spokesman said.
There are a further 20 people awaiting deportation to Vietnam under the MOU.
This brings to 24 the number of removals of Vietnamese nationals under the MOU with the Vietnamese Government, which was signed in June 2001.
These most recent removals to Vietnam under the MOU follow the deportation of three men in October, three men on 17 September 2002, three men on 18 July 2002, four men on 3 May 2002, four men on 3 April 2002, two men on 25 February 2002 and three men on 10 January 2002.
18 November 2002
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