Sri Lankan naval troops attached to the Eastern Naval Command have arrested 9 fishermen and seized their vessels.
According to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) the fishermen were engaged in illegal fishing using explosives in the seas off Eastern coast.
Five of the fishermen were arrested in the seas off Foul Point while the rest was taken into custody in the seas off Uppural, the Navy reported.
The two groups of fishermen who were in possession of 150 grams of explosives have been handed over to the Sampoor Police and Lanka Patuna Police Post respectively for further investigations.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu fisheries officials have accused the Sri Lankan Navy of attacking their fishermen who they claimed were fishing in 600 boats at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
The Indian fishermen have said the attack damaged more than 200 boats and nine fishermen were missing. Officials said the nine fishermen onboard two of the 600 boats did not return to shore.
Indian fishermen crossing the IMBL and fishing in Sri Lankan waters is a nagging issue for both India and Sri Lanka.
During the 4th meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on Fisheries held in Colombo on 13-14 January 2012, Sri Lanka stressed the need to respect the IMBL but showed flexibility in expediting the release of fishermen captured when they cross the IMBL.
2000, 2010 by LankaPage.com (LLC)