Monrovia (Liberia), Jun 8 (IANS/MAP): A total of 130 Liberian migrants from Niger were repatriated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM also presented an undisclosed financial package to the migrants who returned on Thursday.

The migrants, most of whom expressed joy over their return, said some of them "arbitrarily were arrested, maltreated and imprisoned in North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, and Niger before IOM could come to their rescue".

The IOM's Chief of Mission in Liberia, Kabla Amihere, said the migrants contacted the IOM in Niger and they were taken to a transit centre.

Amihere said some of the migrants were en route to Libya and were going to travel to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

He added that there are currently 200 other migrants in Niger who would be repatriated voluntarily, adding that over 500 others are in Gambia and some more in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya.