Sri Lankan fishermen, who were repatriated on Friday. Telegraph picture

Paradip, July 19: Five Sri Lankan fishermen, who were earlier held on infiltration charges, have been repatriated to their homeland following intervention by the Union government.

The five fishermen — Damika Parsanna, K. Pranithi, Duleep, Madhusan and Gudika — were set free yesterday.

They were arrested off Paradip coast on April 30 and were subsequently handed over to Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard personnel later escorted them to Sri Lankan water territory for their voyage back to their home country, said Jagatsinghpur police superintendent Satyabrata Bhoi.

The state government had earlier dropped criminal proceedings against them and Jagatsinghpur district police had initiated the legal process to repatriate them to Sri Lanka.

“Officials of Sri Lankan High Commission had met the district police. Visa and other related documents had also been submitted by them for repatriation. Earlier, they had been released from jail and had been provided shelter at a government guesthouse in Jagatsinghpur,” Bhoi added.

With the Sri Lankan government ordering the release of Indian fishermen on unlawful fishing offence, directions from the Union government had also been issued to reciprocate a goodwill gesture and release the Lankan fishermen detained in Paradip.

Coast Guard patrol ship Bajra had spotted the trespassing foreign vessel while on coastal security drill about 169 nautical miles off Paradip coast.

The Sri Lankan vessel was fitted with global positioning system and communication gadgets for long-range communication. The boat was spotted fishing in Indian coastal waters of Bay of Bengal close to the sea border of Bangladesh.

The Coast Guard personnel had intercepted another Sri Lankan vessel and taken into custody four of its crews on April 4 as well.

However, the vessel and its crews had been released later following intervention of the Union external affairs ministry.