327 fishermen held by Sri Lanka navy

Rameswaram: The Sri Lankan navy on Wednesday detained as many as 327 Indian fishermen when they were fis­hing in the Palk Str­a­it, and later released 227 of them, officials said.

The 100 fishermen in custody have been tak­en to Trinc­om­allee, inspector of ‘Q’ bra­nch of Ta­mil Nadu police Ken­ne­dy and Rameswaram fis­he­rmen’s association president Emirit said. The fishermen, hailing from Karaikal, Na­g­apattinam and Jagat­hapattinam, had been arrested for allegedly fishing in Lankan territorial waters, officials said.

While Nagapattinam and Jagathapattinam are in Tamil Nadu, Ka­r­aikal is part of the Union territory of Pu­d­ucherry. Earlier, as many as 227 fishermen from Nagapat­ti­nam district in Tamil Nadu were today detained by Lankan Navy personnel when they were fishing in the Palk Strait but later released, fisheries officials said.

The fishermen were taken to Jaffna but they were released after the Indian government held talks with the Lankan government, according to Assistant Director of Fisheries, Nagap­att­inam.

The officials said the fishermen would rea­ch India either Wed­ne­sday night or Thu­rsday. Further, the officials said they cou­ld have been arr­es­ted for not having a proper fishing token iss­ued by the department and for crossing international maritime bo­u­ndary line.