Seven Sri Lankan youths who had been detained by security authorities in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, have been deported back to Sri Lanka, where they are now being questioned by domestic security agencies.
The group arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on a special flight overnight on Wednesday, Ada Derana and NewsFirst reported. They were reportedly arrested by Abu Dhabi security agencies over allegations of possessing photographs and video footage related to drone and missile strikes in the ongoing Middle East conflict on their mobile phones, and of engaging with such content through comments and reactions on social media platforms.
The deportees, aged between 23 and 33, are residents of Ambalangoda, Marapana, Borella, Bandaragama, Polonnaruwa and Wattala. Upon arrival at the airport, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) began extensive questioning of the seven, NewsFirst said. Authorities have also opened lines of inquiry into whether any of those returned have links to organised-crime networks or drug-trafficking syndicates inside Sri Lanka.
The deportations are distinct from an earlier separate group of UAE deportees being probed for political links but fit a broader pattern of Gulf states tightening enforcement against social-media engagement with footage of the regional war. The case underscores how content related to the conflict — even shares and reactions, not original posts — has been treated as a security matter by host countries that employ large Sri Lankan migrant workforces.
