Chennai: Five fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka for alleged drug trafficking but set free after President Mahinda Rajapaksa pardoned them, arrived here today.

The fishermen from Rameswaram, who were released by Sri Lankan authorities yesterday, arrived by an Air India flight at 1.05 am, airport officials said. Tamil Nadu Ministers B Valarmathi, Dr S Sundararaj and K A Jayapal, Union Minister of State and senior BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan, state BJP President Tamilisai Soundararajan were among those who received the fishermen.