Sri Lanka: 44 Indians overstaying visas arrested

Colombo, Sep 5: Forty-four Indian men were arrested by immigration authorities on Thursday in Sri Lanka for overstaying their visas for nearly three months, according to a media report.

The officials of the Department of Immigration and Emigration apprehended the men when they were working at a construction site at Slave Island, a suburb in Colombo, the Daily Mirror reported.

"The arrested are all males and between 25 to 50 years of age," Assistant Controller (Investigations) M G V Kariyawasam said, adding that the men had overstayed nearly three months after their visas expired.

Kariyawasam said that it was revealed while questioning that they have not been paid salaries on a regular basis, the report said. "They are to be handed over to the Mirihana Detention Centre," the official said.

In a separate case, he said that passports belonging to another 18 Indians, who were working at the same construction site, were impounded as their visas did not permit them to work at that particular site.

This is not the first time Indians have been arrested in the island nation for overstaying their visas.

At least 27 Indians, including five women, were arrested in Jaffna last month for overstaying their tourist visas in Sri Lanka.