COLOMBO, Sept 9: Sri Lankan authorities have launched a crackdown on Indian nationals who arrive as tourists and stay on to work, an immigration official said on Sunday.

Eight Indian men were arrested on Friday in the south of the island, where they had been employed as farm workers, the official said, adding that they all had entered as tourists.

“We are holding them at a detention centre and will be deporting them shortly,” said the official. No figures were immediately available for the number of tourists who arrive from India.—AFP