Four Criminals Removed Under International Agreement
Media Release - DPS 21/2003
Four 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 (DIMIA) confirmed today.
The men were escorted on commercial flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by Australasian Correctional Management officers, in separate removals on 16 and 18 March 2003.
The men had been held in immigration detention prior to departure: one at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in Victoria, one at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney and two at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Queensland.
All four men were convicted for drug and/or property related offences and served sentences ranging from 12 months to five years.
'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 DIMIA spokesperson said.
There are a further 19 people awaiting deportation to Vietnam under the MOU.
This brings to 28 the number of Vietnamese nationals removed under the MOU with the Vietnamese Government, which was signed in June 2001.
Prior to the removals this week, the most recent deportations to Vietnam under the MOU were of two men in November 2002.
19 March 2003
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