10 Lankan fishermen arrested

CHENNAI: Ten Sri Lankan fishermen, arrested on charges of violating sea perimeters by Coast Guard officials, were on Thursday handed over to the Kasimedu fishing harbor police. The fishermen in two boats carrying 600 kg of fish had been nabbed during surveillance along the eastern seaboard by coast guard ship Sarang on November 22.
“The boats were spotted 126 nautical miles off Nagayalanka near Machilipatnam in Andhra Pardesh.Initially we warned them and asked to go back. But later, we found they had been in Indian waters for more than a week,” a senior coast guard officer told TOI.
Coast Guard officials said the boats, Praboth-2 and Mayomi from Matara in Sri Lanka, along with the 10 fishermen were apprehended for violating Sections 3/10 (prohibition of fishing in maritime zones of India by foreign vessels), 7/14 (foreign vessels entering with out license or permit) and 15 (a & c) (penalty for obstruction of authorized officers) of the Indian Maritime Zones Act of 1981. “All of them are Sinhalese and they had equipped the boats with GPS, radar and long range high frequency communication equipment posing high security risk for the coast,” said Commandant S V Srikanth, regional public relation officer, Coast Guard.
The arrested Sri Lankans were brought to Chennai on Thursday. “Patrol ships and aircraft constantly monitor the coastal areas, looking for suspicious activities at sea and especially look after the safety of Indian fishermen,” he said.
This is fourth such apprehension within the last one week. This year, Coast Guard officials said, nearly 33 boats had been apprehended along with 163 fisherman and 30,150 kg of fish. Sri Lankan fishermen, officials said, keep coming to Indian waters mainly for Yellowfin Tuna and Kola.