Indian Coast Guard apprehended four Sri Lankan boats and 26 fishermen off Kanyakumari coast on charges of trespassing into Indian waters on Wednesday. The detained fishermen and their four boats were brought to Tuticorin and were handed over to Marine Police on Thursday evening.

According to coast guard sources, Indian Coast Guard ship, Vaibhav, which was on a routine patrol in Gulf of Mannar, spotted four Sri Lankan fishing boats illegally fishing in Indian waters and rounded them up. They were apprehended approximately 70 nautical miles South East of Kanyakumari coast.

The names of the detained Sri Lankan boats are Sankalpa and Shamal Putha with the crew of 6 fishermen each while Esani and Rainbow 7 fishing boats were with the crew of 7 seven fishermen each aboard.

All the fishermen were Sinhalese and they were held on charges of violating Maritime Zones of India Act, 1981 (MZI), the coast guard said. Later, on Thursday evening, the fishermen and their boats were handed over to Marine Police at Taruvaikulam in Tuticorin.

Marine police sources said that the Sri Lankan fishermen claimed that they entered into Indian waters accidentally after losing the direction. The apprehended boats were modern fishing boats meant for deep sea fishing with all necessary equipments in place. “We are continuing our investigation on how they got stranded into our waters,” a marine police official said. - ToI