Chennai: Around 11 fishermen who ventured into the sea from Rameswaram and Thangachimadam were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were fishing near Katchatheevu on charges of trespassing near the International Maritime Boundary Line. 


According to a report on The New Indian Express, around 10 pm on Monday 11 fishermen were fishing near Katchatheevu when the Sri Lankan Navy personnel who were on patrol arrived and arrested the fishermen. The boats belonging to three of the fishermen including U Manikanda Prabhu, P Xavier and Sahaya Robin who were on board were also seized.


Reacting to the detention, fishermen leader VP Jesuraja said, Rameswaram fishermen stayed out from fishing for eight days due to the tension between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan fishermen and ventured back into the sea only on Monday around 3 pm. 


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The arrest of the fishermen also comes at a time when the island nation is already delaying the release of already detained 43 Rameswaram fishermen in December despite the court order on December 25.


The Sri Lankan government also started to auction the boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen from Monday. The Tamil Nadu CM Stalin also wrote to PM Modi urging him to urgently halt the steps to auction boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lanka.


The Sri Lankan government earlier advertised the auctioning of 125 boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen that were seized by the Sri Lankan Navy before 2018. 


Meanwhile, the Centre assured that Sri Lanka would not proceed with the auctioning of fishing boats.