Nigerian table tennis players return home

Two Nigerian table tennis players, who say they were mistakenly deported to Bosnia-Herzegovina by Croatian police, have returned home.

Uchenna Abia and Kenneth Eboh say they are happy to be back, after travelling to Croatia for a tournament last month. The pair claim that Croatian police mistook them for illegal immigrants and forced them into neighbouring Bosnia, where they were held in a migrant camp. 

Croatia’s interior ministry has denied these allegations and said that the students disappeared after checking out of their hotel willingly. 

Mr Abia and Mr Eboh entered Croatia legally last month to take part in a student table tennis competition in the city of Pula. While taking a walk in the capital Zagreb, the men say they were picked up by Croatian police officers, who drove them to the border and forced them to cross into Bosnia at gunpoint. 

Mr Eboh told the BBC “They forced us inside a bush in Bosnia. We didn't have any choice because they tried to shoot us”. 

After crossing into Bosnia, the students were held in a camp near the town of Velika Klasda, where their phones were confiscated. 

Mr Abia said they were grateful to the Bosnian volunteers who visited them in the camp and gave them food. He described the people in Bosnia as “friendly”. 

Photo credit: Nigerians in Diaspora Commission