November the 6th, 2026 – Croatia deports 36 Egyptian nationals on a special flight from Zagreb to Cairo. All of the individuals in question were in Croatia illegally, with some involved in criminal proceedings.
A special deportation flight left Zagreb for Cairo this week, carrying 36 Egyptian nationals who were illegally staying in the country. Index reports that among those deported were also individuals against whom criminal proceedings were conducted surrounding human smuggling, the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) reported.
The deportation was carried out with the escort of Croatian police officers, officials of the European agency Frontex and an official Arabic language interpreter. The total cost of the flight amounts to 77,350 euros. The money was secured from the European Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), the MUP states. From the MUP they explain that they decided on a special flight because such a method of deportation is cheaper and enables a faster return of a larger number of people.
When deportations using regular passenger flights are carried out, due to security rules, for one person it is often necessary to ensure the escort of two or three police officers. If all 36 Egyptian citizens had been returned in that way, the cost would have amounted to around 144,000 euros, almost twice as much as for the organised flight.
The Croatian police have since stated that such a method of deportation enables a faster return of persons who are illegally staying in Croatia, lowers overall costs and ensures the more efficient use of police officers. The Police Directorate plans to organise special flights in the future as well, especially when a larger number of citizens of the same country need to be returned. Such flights will be organised when it is assessed that they are cheaper and simpler to implement than individual deportations by regular passenger flights.
From the MUP, they emphasise that all procedures are carried out with full respect for both legal and security rules. According to MUP’s data, this year, Croatia has returned a total of 6,885 people through official return and transfer procedures. At the same time, under the so-called Dublin procedure, by which it is determined which European country is responsible for examining the asylum application, it has officially accepted 1,005 migrants.
