FOUR Mongolians will be deported to Moscow tomorrow after being arrested at Shannon Airport attempting to board a flight to London.
The four, two men who are not related and their younger sisters aged nine and 10, were due to return to Moscow early yesterday. They were taken off the flight because one man resisted boarding by clinging to the rails of the steps to the aircraft.
The four arrived on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow on Wednesday, having earlier flown from the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator. They had a substantial amount of cash in US dollars, valid visas from the Irish embassy in Beijing and a letter stating that they planned to attend an English language course in Dublin.
Immigration officers did not initially detain the four. They did not seek asylum or refugee status on their arrival, according to gardai.
Within a few hours of their arrival, gardai noticed them booking a flight to London. When questioned, the four admitted they had no intention of staying in Ireland and wanted to travel instead to Britain.
The immigration authorities then cancelled their permission to be in the State. They were allowed to make a phone call to a Mongolian embassy official in London.
The men were detained overnight in Limerick Prison. The girls, aged nine and 10, were taken into care by the Mid Western Health Board. All four were discharged yesterday and gardai attempted to put them on a flight to Moscow.
After one man resisted boarding, all four were removed from the flight. The Department of Justice ordered that their passports be taken from them. They will be accompanied by two immigration officers on a flight to Moscow tomorrow.