For allegedly engaging in illicit fishing, the Sri Lanka Navy detains nine Indian fishermen
Off the shore of Delft islet on the northern Jaffna peninsula, the Navy said that the nine fishermen had been captured and their two trawlers had been seized.
According to authorities, the Sri Lankan Navy detained nine Indian fishermen on Tuesday and confiscated their trawlers for allegedly poaching in its territorial seas. This brings the total number of Indian citizens the island nation has detained this year to 261.
Off the shore of Delft islet on the northern Jaffna peninsula, the Navy said that the nine fishermen had been captured and their two trawlers had been seized.
The Navy announced on July 11 that this year, 35 trawlers had been confiscated for poaching and 252 Indian fishermen had been apprehended.
Concerned by the loss of a navy man during an operation to apprehend an Indian trawler suspected of engaging in illicit fishing within the territorial waters of the island country, Sri Lanka expressed its concerns to India earlier this month.
A senior sailor from the Navy Special Boat Squadron was critically injured on June 25 off the northern shore of Point Pedro as a result of "the aggressive manoeuvres of the Indian trawler, resisting its seizure," according to a statement released by the Sri Lankan Navy.
In numerous claimed instances of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters, Lankan Navy soldiers have even opened fire on Indian fisherman in the Palk Strait and seized their boats, making the fishermen issue a sensitive one in the relationship between India and Sri Lanka.
Fishermen from both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka benefit greatly from the abundant fishing grounds found in the tiny stretch of water known as the Palk Strait.
When fishermen from both nations unintentionally enter each other's seas, they are often imprisoned.
