An Indian worker suffering from mental illness has finally gone home after spending 16 years in jail for drug trafficking.

He boarded a plane to India on Tuesday. He was heavily sedated after he became violent at the airport during a previous attempt earlier this month to send him home.

Sulaiman Kutty from Calicut in Kerala spent 16 years in a Dammam prison for drug trafficking. He was arrested in 1997 on his arrival from India at Dhahran airport.

Kutty developed psychiatric problems in prison in 1999, apparently because he presumed he would be executed.

Kutty's case came to the attention of the authorities and he was included in a general amnesty declared by King Fahd in 2005. The amnesty reduced his penalty to SR 50,000 from the original SR 100,000 fine. The remaining amount was waived in a second amnesty announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

Kutty was released on March 14 and was scheduled to fly home with his brother Mohammad, but when he arrived at the airport and saw him, he became violent. The airline then refused to allow him to board the plane and he was sent back to prison.

Kutty was taken to India by a prominent social worker Naaz Vakkam. Speaking to Arab News from India, Vakkam said Kutty was sedated before he was put on the plane.

Kutty's older brother, Mohammad, had by chance found him in prison. Mohammad's sponsor had told him to go to a Dammam prison because a newly recruited Indian was being held there. On arrival at the facility, Mohammad was shocked to find it was his sibling.