As immigration officials screened their documents, they realised the men traveled through Yemen to come back to India. The men were later handed over to the airport police for further investigation.

Two men, including one from Kerala's Malappuram district, have been arrested at Chennai airport after they returned from Yemen, one of the countries Indian citizens cannot travel to, a Tamil language newspaper reported on Sunday. Dinamalar reported that the arrested men were identified as 38-year-old Sameer from Malappuram and 33-year-old Feroz Khan from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu. The men told the officials that they travelled from Yemen to return to India after their Saudi Arabian visas expired, according to the newspaper.

Sameer and Khan, who left for Saudi Arabia five years ago, worked as drivers in that country. They were staying illegally in Saudi Arabia after their work visas expired two years ago. When they realised they could land in trouble if they are caught by the country’s officials since the punishment for illegal stay in Saudi Arabia is very severe, they fled to Yemen, Dinamalar reported.

They decided to come back to India from Yemen and approached the Indian embassy. They filed a complaint saying that they have lost their passports and with the help of local agents, they obtained the emergency certificate from the Indian embassy. Using the emergency certificate, they traveled from the Yemeni city of Sanaa to Sharjah from where they boarded a flight to India, Dinamalar reported.

As immigration officials screened their documents, they realised the men traveled through Yemen to come back to India. The men were later handed over to the airport police for further investigation.

India has banned citizens from going to Yemen since 2016. The travel advisory issued by the ministry of external affairs on April 1, 2016, warned that the security situation is very fragile in Yemen. The advisory came after an Indian nun was killed and a priest was abducted by extremists in Yemen. The government later imposed a stricter warning saying any Indian citizen who ignores the travel ban and travels to Yemen shall be accountable for the action under Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967.