15 fishermen from Nagapattinam and Karaikal arrested by Sri Lankan Navy
The Sri Lankan Navy arrested 15 fishermen from Karaikal in Puducherry and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and seized their boat on Friday.
Twelve of those arrested are from Karaikal and three from Nagapattinam. The fishermen had put out to sea from the Karaikal harbour on Thursday. The Sri Lankan Navy arrested them on charges of trespassing into the island nation’s waters.
On March 10, the Sri Lankan Navy had arrested 15 fishermen, including two from Karaikal and 13 from Nagapattinam. Seven fishermen from Pudukkottai district were also arrested on the same day. In January, 18 fishermen were arrested, and in February, 19 and 23 fishermen were arrested in two separate incidents.
Those arrested on Friday were taken to the Kankesanthurai harbour and handed over to the Mailadi fisheries inspector for legal proceedings.
Sources in the Fisheries Department said that the boat, bearing the registration number INDPYPKMM1337 and belonging to M. Jeyamathi, was seized.
The arrested fishermen from Nagapattinam were identified as A. Arumugan, 34, S. Sekar, 47, and P. Mohan, 45, while those from Karaikal were identified as K. Muruganantham, 48, M. Velmani, 28, M. Murugan, 34, K. Kandhakumar, 34, M. Sundaravel, 52, K. Balamurugan, 44, V. Vadivel, 34, S. Velmurugan, 39, S. Idumban, 37, R. Parasuraman, 41, T. Manikandan, 37, and B. Babu, 24.
CM writes to Centre
Meanwhile, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to the Union government requesting it to take steps to convene the Joint Working Group to secure the release of all the fishermen and their boats.
It was important to resolve the “festering issue” through diplomatic channels, Mr. Stalin said in his letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.