A total of 85 Chinese nationals convicted of various crimes, including cyber-related offences, were deported from Sri Lanka in the early hours of today, officials at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) confirmed.
These individuals had previously been sentenced by local courts and were being held at the Immigration and Emigration Department’s Detention Centre in Welisara prior to their deportation.
According to the officer-in-charge at Katunayake Airport, the deportees were transported to the airport under tight security in five buses and boarded a special SriLankan Airlines flight.
A coordinated team of 85 Sri Lankan police officers, officials from the Immigration and Emigration Department, and 172 SriLankan Airlines security personnel accompanied the group to ensure smooth and secure handling.
The special chartered flight, SriLankan Airlines UL-880, departed for Guangzhou, China, at 1:20 a.m. today.
Authorities stated that the deportation was carried out in accordance with judicial rulings and immigration procedures, making it one of the largest single-group deportations in Sri Lanka’s recent history.
