A SriLankan flight from Singapore was instructed by Singapore Authorities to return to Changi Airport due to security reasons, soon after it had left the airport last night.

The Flight UL309 landed in Katunayake BIA shortly after midnight today after a delay of three hours, SriLankan Airlines said.

"Upon its return to Singapore, the airport division of the Singapore Police Force requested that all check-in luggage was screened once more and also interviewed a few passengers. Accordingly, all baggage was offloaded and sent for security screening. Further, the Airport Police requested SriLankan Airlines to offload 3 additional passengers for further questioning. This was in addition to 5 passengers who were initially detained for interrogation before the flight departed" the statement said.

"SriLankan decided to offload the family members of the two passengers offloaded for interviewing and baggage identification by the Airport Police. SriLankan provided accommodation for all these passengers, who later flew to Colombo on UL 307 of April 15, 2016," the statement further said.

The Singapore authorities have not yet announced the reason for the detention of the passengers. The five who were initially detained are still under detention in Singapore.