A people-smuggling charge against a Sri Lankan who was accused of attempting to assist a fellow countryman to travel from Indonesia to Australia by boat has been dropped, ‘The Australian’ reported.

Jasothiran Shellakandu, 35, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday where commonwealth prosecutors tendered no evidence on a charge of taking part in bringing a non-citizen to Australia between 2009 and 2013.

Shellakandu was arrested in October last year and an earlier court appearance was told he was living in Adelaide on a humanitarian visa and feared being persecuted as a Tamil Tiger if he returned to Sri Lanka