NOVOSIBIRSK, August 12. /TASS/. All members of a Russian tourist group detained in Chad earlier, which included Vitaly Polishchuk, the administrator of the Ast-54 community in the VKontakte social network based in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, have returned to Russia, according to a statement published on the community’s page on Thursday.

"Members of the round-the-world road trip dubbed Mir Nash [The World Is Ours] have returned home. It took 54 days to ensure the return of the property belonging to the Russian nationals detained in Chad on June 15," the statement reads.

The tourists were detained by local law enforcement officers in the city of Faya-Largeau during a three-week road trip across Chad. They were later forced to leave their cars and most of their belongings and equipment, and were flown to the country’s capital of N'Djamena. The group consisted of nine Russians and one Lithuanian citizen.

According to the Ast-54 community, a week after the detention, Chad’s authorities issued formal apologies. The group’s members got their equipment and phones back several days later. Most of the travelers returned home but four of them stayed in Chad, demanding the return of the cars they had to leave in Faya-Largeau. The cars are now parked in N'Djamena and the remaining members of the trip have returned home.