RAMANATHAPURAM: The Sri Lankan Navy detained 17 fishermen from Ramanathapuram and seized their fishing boats in the early hours of Tuesday on charges of fishing in the country’s territorial waters in the sea north of Mannar.
According to sources, on Monday, the two apprehended fishing boats with 17 fishermen departed from Mandapam in Ramanathapuram. However, late at night, the Sri Lankan Navy spotted these fishing boats. The Sri Lankan Navy then arrested the fishermen and seized the boats bearing the registrations IND TN 10 MM 206 and IND TN 10 MM 543, for allegedly fishing in Sri Lankan waters in the early hours of Tuesday. The seized boats and the arrested fishermen were then brought to the Talaimannar Pier for handing over to the Mannar fisheries inspector for legal proceedings.
Reacting to the arrest of the 17 fishermen, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai wrote to S Jai Shankar, Union External Affairs Minister, urging him to take necessary steps to bring the fishermen back to India. “Their families are highly distressed as their livelihoods are completely dependent on the detained fishermen. The anguished families have sought for your office’s help to intervene in the matter and ensure the earliest repatriation of the detainees and the two fishing boats,” he said in his letter.
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