𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A migrant purportedly swallowed a vape battery in an effort to stop their deportation from the UK. The individual, believed to be a foreign national offender, was supposed to board a private plane to Albania on Thursday before being transferred back to Egypt, his home country.

But before boarding the flight, the man was held in segregated detention, during which he was given a vape. He then is reported to have swallowed the device’s lithium battery, and consequently taken to hospital. The migrant was successfully treated there, before being returned to detention. The deportation flight was cancelled.

Mitie manages overseas deportations for the Home Office. The contractor told The Guardian: “This incident is currently being investigated. At this point, there is no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing or breach of procedure by our colleagues. Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of those in our care.”

The UK Government charters private planes to transfer people away to other countries.

The one this incident concerned was a regular deportation flight to Albania.

But an extra journey to Egypt was added, when the man who would have had the plane to himself, with guards and the flight crew.

After a separate incident in October, a policing minister defended the decision to give £500 to a migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison after he threatened to disrupt his deportation flight.

Sarah Jones said removing him from the flight and taking him back into custody would have cost thousands of pounds, which is why the choice was made that it was “better to get him out of our country”.

“And that was the choice, galling, though that is … I hope people understand that that was the choice they faced, and that was the right thing to do,” she told Sky News.

She added: “So it sticks in the throat, right? I get that. It does for me. It does for most people.”

Hadush Kebatu was forcibly removed to his home country with a team of five escorts on the flight, and arrived with no right to return to Britain, according to the Home Office.