Italy sends rejected migrants to detention centres in Albania

The Italian navy ship Libra approaches the port of Shengjin, north-western Albania (Vlasov Sulaj/AP)

Italian authorities said they were transferring 40 migrants with no permission to remain in the country to Italian-run migration detention centres in Albania.

It appeared to be the first time a European Union country was sending rejected migrants to a nation outside the EU that is neither their own nor a country they had transited on their journey.