The 109 'illegal immigrants' had been on their way “to join jihad” in Turkey, Syria or Iraq, and 13 of them had fled China after being implicated in terrorist activities, it was reported.

Images broadcast on Chinese television showed the suspects sat hooded and bound as they were flown back to an undisclosed location in China, Mail Online reports.

The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China's far western region of Xinjiang, have complained of harsh cultural and religious suppression under Chinese rule.