Sri Lankan Navy apprehends 4 Rameswaram-based fishermen, 1 boat impounded

The Sri Lankan Navy has apprehended four Rameswaram-based fishermen in Ramanathapuram district and impounded their boat.

The action on the part of the Sri Lankan Navy came in the wake of 523 mechanised boats going to the sea for fishing near Delft Island on Monday.

"The Sri Lankan Navy arrived in the area at night and captured the fishermen and their one boat, from where they were taken to Mylatty harbour for further interrogations," said Q branch police, one of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) wings of Tamil Nadu Police.

The fishermen arrested have been identified as R.Harikrishnan (49), S.Vignesh (26), P. Chinnamunian (55) and V. Murugan (31), and the captured boat was owned by Vinod.

As per the Q branch police, earlier on Thursday (24 March 2022) Sri Lankan Navy had apprehended 16 fishermen and impounded their two boats from Rameswaram and Mandapam in Tamil Nadu.

On February 12 as well, the Sri Lankan Navy had apprehended 12 Rameswaram-based fishermen and impounded their two fishing boats after they had gone fishing across the border in Palk Bay.

Earlier Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V Muraleedharan, in a written reply in Lok Sabha on February 4, 2022, said Indian fishermen are arrested from time to time by the Sri Lankan authorities for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

"As per the available information, 74 and 159 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2020 and 2021 respectively," he stated.

Muraleedharan further informed that following the 2+2 initiative in November 2016, when the Foreign and Fisheries Ministers of the two countries met in New Delhi, a bilateral Joint Working Group (JWG) mechanism and meeting of the Ministers for Fisheries of the two countries was institutionalized to address the fishermen issues with Sri Lanka.

( With inputs from ANI )