Kuwait has deported 20 Sri Lankan prisoners under an extradition agreement between the two countries, according to media reports.
The inmates, who were held at Kuwait’s Central Prison, were repatriated to Sri Lanka on Wednesday via a special flight to Katunayake Airport, as reported by the Daily News.
The prisoners had been convicted on charges including drug use and smuggling. After undergoing the judicial process in Kuwait, they were sentenced and imprisoned before being transferred back to Sri Lanka. They arrived aboard a Boeing C-17, the largest aircraft in the Kuwaiti Air Force.
Around 50 Kuwaiti security personnel accompanied the prisoners, while Sri Lankan Prison Department officials received them at the airport and facilitated their transfer to a prison in Colombo.
Under the prisoner exchange agreement signed in 2007, a total of 52 Sri Lankan prisoners have been repatriated in two previous instances. However, no Kuwaiti prisoners have been transferred from Sri Lanka so far. In 2024 alone, 32 Sri Lankan prisoners were sent back home under this arrangement.
