10 TN fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy

Rameswaram : Ten Tamil Nadu fishermen were today arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on the charge of fishing in the island’s waters, in the fourth such detention this month.

With today’s arrest, the total number of Tamil Nadu fishermen detained by Sri Lanka this month has risen to 45.

The 10 fishermen, including a juvenile, from Thideer Kuppam village in Nagapattinam district, were held on charges of poaching fish near Neduntheevu, Assistant Director of Fisheries Gangadharan said here.

The Sri Lankan naval personnel also seized the fishermen’s boat.

The nine fishermen were later produced before a court in Paruthithurai in northern Sri Lanka which remanded them to judicial custody till November 30, police said quoting information received by them.

The minor fisherman was produced before a juvenile court and sent to custody, they said.

This is the fourth instance of the state’s fishermen being arrested this month by the Sri Lankan Navy.

Ten fishermen from Akkarapettai, also in Nagapattinam district, were arrested yesterday.

The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 17 fishermen from Pudukottai district on two separate occasions — on November 2 and 7 — and eight others from Nagapattinam on November 5.

The state government last month urged the Centre to take steps to secure the release of 54 fishermen and 140 fishing boats in the custody of Sri Lanka as of then.

Expressing concern over the recurring detentions, Chief Minister K Palaniswami, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged him to take up “the alarming and frequent abduction” of the state’s fishermen in “their traditional waters” with the highest authorities in the Sri Lankan government.