RAMANATHAPURAM
The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested nine Rameswaram fishermen along with their two trawlers on charges of trespassing into the Lankan waters and indulging in illegal fishing.
Reports received here said that the fishermen, who had set out for fishing on Saturday morning, were fishing near Analathivu when the Lankan navy personnel attached to the Northern Naval Command, arrested them during a routine patrol.
They were handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Jaffna. Then, they were produced before a magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody till April 3, the reports said.
The arrest comes a week after the Rameswaram fishermen staged a protest, demanding the release of 19 fishermen, including two students, incarcerated in Sri Lankan prisons for more than three months.