Twelve fishermen from Nagapattinam district were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy late on Saturday night for allegedly trespassing into Sri Lankan waters.
The group had departed from Akkaraipettai fishing harbour around 8 a.m. on October 26 on a registered boat and was reportedly fishing approximately 40 nautical miles southeast of Kodiakkarai when intercepted. The Sri Lankan Navy detained the fishermen, who were subsequently taken to the Kankesanthurai Naval Base for investigation.
The names of the arrested fishermen were given as: M. Guna, 40, K. Senji Vel, 45, P. Venkatesan, 45, P. Alex, 28, S. Chinnappu, 25, K. Karthi, 22, C. Valarselvan, 25, V. Ravi, 50, and D. Meghnathan, 50, all from Akkaraipettai, as well as S. Raghu, 45, from Thideerkuppam, and K. Mahendran, 55, and M. Samuel, 20, from Pushpavanam.