Sri Lanka given two patrol boats Sri Lanka has provided strong support against people smuggling operations: Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Australia will give Sri Lanka two patrol boats to intercept asylum seekers in Sri Lankan waters under a deal to be signed on Sunday. Asylum seekers caught by the Australian-built boats in Sri Lankan or international waters will be immediately returned to Sri Lanka. The gift is understood to be part of a memorandum of understanding to be signed between the countries, designed to curb the already diminished flow of asylum seeker boats from Sri Lanka. The issue of apparently systemic naval complicity in people smuggling has not deterred Australian co-operation with the Sri Lankan armed forces. Four Sri Lankan navy members, including one senior officer who briefed Australia's border protection chief on counter-trafficking measures, have been charged with involvement in Sri Lanka's largest people-smuggling ring. Prime Minister Tony Abbott will formally hand over the two retired Bay-class patrol boats at a port in Colombo on Sunday morning. The 38-metre ships, which have a complement of 12 sailors, have been a mainstay of Australian maritime surveillance since the late 1990s but are being phased out by Australian Customs and Border Protection. Mr Abbott said Sri Lanka provided strong support against people smuggling operations, and Australian agencies worked closely with their Sri Lankan counterparts. "Co-operation with Sri Lankan authorities to counter people smuggling and disruption operations has been well co-ordinated and highly effective, with at least 12 on-water interceptions by the Sri Lankan navy in 2013," he said. Only 14 boats have travelled directly from Sri Lanka to Australia in 2013, compared with 120 boats in 2012. But Sri Lankan police told Fairfax the smashing of the country's most sophisticated people smuggling ring - which only existed with the involvement of Sri Lankan navy members - has led to the precipitous drop in boat arrivals. Sri Lanka police expect to make more arrests, including of more active navy members. The details of the memorandum of understanding to be signed between Sri Lanka and Australia remain secret, but Sri Lanka's Information Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, confirmed an agreement had been reached and would be signed soon. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, met at the CHOGM summit last week to finalise the details.