MAYILADUTHURAI: A total of 37 fishermen from the district were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy on Saturday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. A purse seine boat and two motorised boats in which they put out to sea were also seized.
According to sources, 25 of the arrested fishermen are from Poompuhar while 12 of them are from Chandirapadi. They ventured into sea from the Poompuhar on Friday night. When they were fishing southeast of Kodiyakarai on Saturday afternoon, the Lankan navy apprehended them.
The three boats they went fishing in are from Poompuhar. Of them, a mechanised boat, ‘Eswari’ is an illegal purse seine boat. The two seized motorised boats are registered under the names of Poompuhar residents.
The motorised boats were allegedly used to assist with casting the purse seine nets from the mechanised boat into sea.
The personnel arrested the fishermen and directed them to Sri Lanka for legal proceedings.