Bhubaneswar, Sep 8 - Orissa Tuesday sent back 16 Bangladeshi nationals, who were accused of illegally crossing into Indian territorial waters last year, nearly two months after a court in the state acquitted them, officials said.

As many as 17 Bangladeshi nationals - all fishermen - were arrested in October last year by the state police for illegally fishing in the Bay of Bengal, some 35 nautical miles off the Paradip Port in the Jagatsinghpur district, some 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

A local court in July this year had acquitted 16 of them but convicted Alamgiri Majhi, 42, the leader of the fishing vessel to six months' imprisonment and a penalty of Rs.2.50 lakh.

'A state police team led by Inspector Arabinda Mohanty has taken the released persons to the West Bengal state where they will hand them over to the Border Security Force (BSF) at Kalyani,' Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakardhar Mohapatra said.

'The BSF will send them to Bangladesh as per rules,' he added.