Kuwait has deported 20 convicted Sri Lankan prisoners to their home country under a prisoner exchange agreement, marking the second such repatriation this year.
The inmates, who had been serving sentences in Kuwait’s Central Prison for offenses including drug trafficking and substance abuse, arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake on Wednesday aboard a Kuwaiti Air Force Boeing C-17 transport aircraft.
Approximately 50 Kuwaiti security personnel accompanied the prisoners, while a group of Sri Lankan Prison Department officials met them at the airport to transfer the inmates to a prison in Colombo.
Although 52 Sri Lankan prisoners have been repatriated on two occasions under the prisoner exchange agreement with Kuwait, no Kuwaiti prisoners have yet been transferred from Sri Lanka, the report noted.
The exchange pact was signed in 2007, and under the agreement, 32 Sri Lankan prisoners were sent back home in 2024.
