Chennai, July 12 (BPNS)

Six fishermen from Tamil Nadu who went to the sea on Monday were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy near Karainagar on charges of poaching in the waters of that nation.

All the six are from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu and had set sail from the Jagadapattinam harbour. The fishermen, according to information available ventured into the sea on board a mechanized vessel on Monday and were arrested late at night.

Those arrested are K. Karthik (24) who is the owner of the vessel and lives in Jagadapattinam,  P. Devaraj( 35), M. Suresh( 43), I. Velmurugan (27), I.Sundaram( 47) and K. Thirumeni (31).

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Coastal police told BPNS that according to information available, they were taken to Mayilatti harbour for further questioning.

It may be noted that many fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy and their mechanized boats were impounded. The Sri Lankan Navy had even advertised the sale of the confiscated boats in local newspapers. In Ramanathapuram, Dhanushkodi, and other coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, fishermen had taken to the streets and blocked the highways earlier against the arrests of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy.