Eight TN fishermen arrested

Sri Lankan Navy on Friday arrested eight Tamil Nadu fishermen for allegedly fishing in the restricted Sri Lankan territorial waters, an official from senior Indian fisheries told news agency PTI. 

Nagapattinam joint fisheries director Amala Xavier told PTI that the arrested fishermen, who were taken to Kangesanthurai port, were from Nagapattinam district and were fishing off Nedubtheevu near the Sri Lankan coast.

It is the fifth such arrests made by Sri Lankan navy in the month of July. In a similar incident earlier this week, four fishermenfrom Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai district were arrested for allegedly fishing off Neduntheevu. Seven other fishermen from Mandapam were arrested on July 13 on similar charges.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to find a permanent solution to recurring mid-sea arrests. “Such continuing incidents of arrests of fishermen were a deliberate attempt by Sri Lanka to derail India’s efforts to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue,” the Chief Minister wrote in a letter to PM Modi.