Colombo, Jan 12 :Sri Lanka will hand over two Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment to Indian authorities under the SAARC Prisoner Transfer agreement.

The Ministry of Justice has directed the Commissioner General of Prisons to hand over the two Indian prisoners to the Government of India.

Prisons Commissioner and Spokesperson, Chandana Ekanayake said the Additional Secretary (Legal) of the Ministry of Justice had informed the Commissioner-General of Prisons to hand over the two Indian prisoners to the Indian government, under the SAARC exchange agreement.

Ekanayake said that one of the two prisoners was convicted of possession, smuggling and importation of toxic narcotics under the Poisons and Drugs (Amendment) Act and was sentenced to three life terms by the Negombo High Court on each charge, dailymirror.lk said.

He has been incarcerated for 12 years.

The second prisoner was convicted of a number of offences under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. He was sentenced to three life terms on each charge and currently serving a prison sentence of nearly six years.

Accordingly, arrangements have been made to take the two prisoners to the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport on January 12 and 13 under the special protection of the prison authorities.

Then they will be handed over to the Indian Police, the spokesperson said.(UNI)