Sri Lankan navy arrests 4 Indian fishermen

COLOMBO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s navy arrested four Indian fishermen for poaching in the country’s territorial waters on Wednesday, the navy said in a statement.
The arrests were made during a special operation to chase away Indian trawlers poaching in the seas off Kovilan Lighthouse, Jaffna, in the country’s Northern Province, the navy said.
The navy also seized a trawler that the Indians were traveling in, the statement said, adding that the trawler and Indian fishermen were handed over to the local authority for legal proceedings.
Sri Lanka’s navy conducts regular patrols and operations in its waters to curb the illegal fishing practices of foreign fishing trawlers, the navy said.
With the arrests, the navy has seized a total of 47 Indian poaching trawlers and arrested 345 Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters so far in 2024. ■