Sri Lankan Navy Arrests 54 Indian Fishermen , Captures 10 Boats

22 March, Chennai

Sri Lankan Navy arrested 54 Indian fishermen and captured 10 boats in two separate incidents Saturday night.

According to an official of the Indian Consulate at Jaffna, 21 fishermen were arrested near Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka’s Northern waters along with 5 boats.

In a separate incident, 33 Tamil Nadu fishermen were caught near Thalaimannar on charges of violating the maritime border.

The fishermen will be produced before a magistrate later today for further legal action.

The arrests come ahead of talks between fishermen associations of the two countries that are to take place in Chennai from Tuesday.

Sri Lanka had earlier released all Indian fishermen and their boats just before the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country.