Nearly 1,700 returned to native countries from Greece in April

These were based either on return and deportation orders for illegal entry into Greece, the voluntary repatriation programmes operated by the International Organisation for Migration or the forced returns and voluntary departures overseen by ELAS services.

The greatest number of returns were to Albania (852), followed by Pakistan (157), Morocco (107), Iran (61), Georgia (51), Afghanistan (45) and Bangladesh (29). A total of 6,427 third-country nationals have been returned to their country of origin since the start of the year, ELAS said.