Jakarta. Indonesian officials said Monday that two Dutch nationals imprisoned on drug trafficking convictions will be repatriated to the Netherlands later in the day under a bilateral agreement.

The prisoners, including one who had been sentenced to death, were formally handed over to Dutch authorities at a Jakarta prison ahead of an evening flight. Both men wore baseball caps and bright green T-shirts during the handover. Officials said they were receiving medical treatment, and the Dutch government requested their return on humanitarian grounds.

I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, Indonesia’s deputy minister for immigration and correctional coordination, told reporters that the two men will continue serving their sentences in the Netherlands.

Siegfried Mets, 74, who had been on death row, was convicted for his role in shipping 600,000 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Indonesia. He had been held in a Jakarta prison since February 2008.

The second prisoner, 65-year-old Ali Tokman, was detained at Surabaya airport in December 2014 after customs officers found slightly more than 6 kilograms (13.5 pounds) of brown-colored MDMA. He has served 11 years of a life sentence.

Under President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, Indonesia has repatriated several foreign nationals convicted of drug offenses, including a Filipina formerly on death row, five Australians jailed for heroin trafficking, and two Britons who faced capital punishment and a life sentence for drug smuggling.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia remains a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the world’s toughest narcotics laws, partly because international syndicates target its young population.

About 530 people are currently on death row in Indonesia, nearly 100 of them foreigners, mostly for drug-related crimes, according to immigration and corrections data released last month. Indonesia last carried out executions in July 2016, when one local citizen and three foreigners were put to death.

Add as a preferred source on Google +