Repatriation of Sri Lankan migrant workers kept in the detention centres in Riyadh and Jeddah has been completed with the last batch of 103 detainees having returned to Sri Lanka in the Saudi Airlines SV 786 on 19 May.
This is the last leg of the repatriation process initiated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in April 2021. With this latest cluster, a total of 180 individuals, 49 females and 131 males have been brought back to Sri Lanka. Since July 2020, 334 Sri Lankan deportees have returned to Sri Lanka from Saudi Arabia.
This repatriation process of deportation camp inmates is a result of an ongoing collaboration between the Saudi authorities and the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah.