A group of five Sri Lankan fishermen, who were reportedly fishing in Indian waters, were arrested by the personnel of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) here on Tuesday.
Sources said a Coast Guard vessel was patrolling the Indian waters south of Thoothukudi at 2 pm. The personnel on the ICG vessel noticed a mechanised boat fishing in Indian territorial waters. On suspicion, the ICG personnel went near the boat and noticed that the boat was from Sri Lanka and a group of fishermen were on board.
The ICG team immediately arrested all the five fishermen on the boat. The arrested fishermen are expected to be brought to the coast on Wednesday. However, the personnel are yet to disclose the identities of the arrested persons.
Anand Kumar, Coast Guard Commandant, Thoothukudi, confirmed the incident and said they would be brought to the local police station on Wednesday.
The ICG had heightened its patrolling activities in the wake of the Intelligence
Bureau alert on terrorist intrusion through sea from Sri Lanka. Besides Coast Guard, marine and local police are also involved in the surveillance of coastal areas.