Egypt’s foreign ministry said Friday that six Christian Egyptians who were detained earlier this month in western Libya have been released.

The men, all relatives from Egypt’s southern city of Sohag, had traveled to Libya across the border from Egypt “with work permits stipulating their presence only in the east of Libya."

The six men will shortly return to Egypt, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, said in a tweet posted Friday evening.

No further details about the release were given.

The men were being held in a migrant detention facility near the western city of Zawiya.

The ministry said earlier on Friday that it was “working around the clock” to secure their release and was in contact with Egyptian diplomats based in Tripoli who were pursuing the matter with Libyan authorities.

It also called on citizens not to violate the instructions related to travel to Libya and to fully adhere to declared areas of movement in order to ensure their safety.