Sri Lanka to return Indian inmates under SAARC prisoner exchange deal

Sri Lanka will hand over two Indian prisoners, who have been serving life imprisonment in the island nation, to India on Wednesday and Thursday under the SAARC prisoners exchange agreement, a senior prison official said here.

Prison Spokesman Chandana Ekanayake told PTI that the additional Secretary to the ministry of justice has informed the commissioner general of prisons to release the two Indian nationals.

They will be handed over to the Indian police officials at the Colombo international airport today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday), he said without identifying the two Indians to protect their privacy.

One of the convicts serving life imprisonment has been in jail for over 12 years for possession and Import of narcotics and charged under the Poisons, Opium And Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, Ekanayake said.

The second, charged under the Dangerous Drugs Act, is serving in a jail here over the last 6 years.

The India-Sri Lanka bilateral agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons was signed in June 2010, paving the way for the transfer of prisoners to jails in their home country.

The agreement provides for the conditions under which such transfers can take place and the various obligations of the transferring State and the receiving State.