According to K. Harikrishnan Namboothiri, Chief Executive Officer, NORKA-ROOTS, the issue has been raised with the Indian Embassy. In recent years, there have been several instances of fishermen from the State being detained in Iran and neighbouring countries. The release of the detained, in most cases, can be obtained only through government-level intervention.
The Iranian authorities have detained eleven fishermen from India, including seven from Kerala, who went for deep sea fishing last week from Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. They were reportedly detained after they unknowingly crossed into the Iranian waters. The detention came to light after one of the detained fishermen contacted his family on Sunday. Out of the seven fishermen from Kerala, five are from Anchuthengu in Thiruvananthapuram district and two from Paravoor in Kollam district.