Seven TN fishermen held by Sri Lankan Navy

Seven Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for fishing in their territorial waters today, a fisheries official said.

The fishermen from Mandapam near here were fishing at Neduntheevu, close to the island nation's coast and taken to Kangesanthurai port there, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Gopinath said.

Two boats used by them were also impounded by the navalmen, he added.

On July 9, three fishermen from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai District were detained off Karainagar in northern Sri Lanka, for allegedly fishing in the Lankan waters.

This is the third instance of arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy this month.

The Tamil Nadu government has maintained that the retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, was the "only solution" to the vexed fishermen's issue.

-PTI