Chennai: The Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday arrested 21 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for allegedly being involved in poaching activities in the island's territorial water. The Sri Lankan Navy said, they arrested Indian fishermen and seized their two trawlers after they were alerted by the local fishermen.
According to a report on PTI, the Sri Lankan fishermen allegedly noted two fishing trawlers in Point Pedro on Sri Lankan international waters on Monday and alerted the Navy.
The Navy spokesman captain Indika Silva said the fishermen were arrested and handed over to the custody of Kankesanturai police.
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The arrest of the Indian fishermen comes amid the protest of the local fishermen to stop Indians from entering Sri Lankan waters for fishing.
The local fishermen also alleged that two other fishermen who came along with them went missing in the northern seas and they feared that they were attacked by Indian fishermen.
However, later the bodies of the two fishermen were found in Maradankeni beach in Jaffna.
On the other hand, last week Sri Lankan court released 56 Indian fishermen who were in the custody of the island nation. The Sri Lankan officials and Indian diplomats after the release assured that there were no more fishermen in the custody of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, India helped Sri Lanka with an economic relief package to tackle the worst foreign exchange crisis faced by the island nation. India announced USD 400 million packages to SL for improving gross reserves and deferred Asian Currency Union settlement of USD 515 million.