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Canadian border agents roused an asylum seeker from his sleep last week, shackled his arms together and placed him on a chartered flight to Guinea.

The asylum seeker, 23, had resisted a previous attempt at deportation last month, telling the Montreal Gazette he struggled so much the agents beat his legs while trying to force him onto a commercial flight.

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But the pilot refused to take him on and so the Canadian Border Services Agency decided to charter a flight for the 23-year-old on Dec. 18. He was the only passenger on board.

The practice of chartering aircraft to deport undocumented migrants is rare, but costly.

Since 2016, the CBSA has used chartered flights to deport seven people at a total cost of $821,157. During that span, the agency removed 23,578 people from Canada.

“The use of chartered aircraft allows for the removal of individuals whose behaviour, criminal background or personal circumstances present a risk to the public, the airline or escort officers,” the CBSA wrote in a statement to the Montreal Gazette.