Sri Lankan boat with six crew held for fishing in Indian waters
Story highlights
According to Indian coast guard, during a patrol ICGS Vajra detected a boat 117 nautical miles south east of India's southern most district Kanyakumari.
In an anti-poaching operation, Indian Coast Guard ship Vajra apprehended a Sri Lankan fishing boat with six crew members for fishing in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
According to the Indian coast guard, during a patrol ICGS Vajra detected a boat 117 nautical miles southeast of India's southern most district Kanyakumari. The coast guard patrolling vessel then closed in on the fishing vessel, which was seen with nets laid in the water.
#SriLankan fishing boat with 6 crew held by @IndiaCoastGuard for #fishing in #Indian Waters SE of #kanyakumari
— Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) March 17, 2022
They had switched off ID equipment, despite knowing they wer in #Indian EEZ, tried to evade ICG, had 350kg catch
Boat, crew taken to #tuticorin and FIR registered pic.twitter.com/b3kaHqbkqb
The Coast guard intercepted the vessel, while it attempted to flee and also conducted a search operation.
It revealed that the vessel has electronic chart displays and the crew were well aware of fishing in Indian waters. The crew members were also understood to have deliberately switched off the onboard automatic identification system. Besides a Tina like that was laid in the water, there was nearly 350kg of catch onboard.
The Lankan vessel 'Dinuka Putha-6' and its crew members were taken to Tuticorin port in southern Tamil Nadu following which an FIR was registered and the boat, the crew were handed over to Marine police. The foreign fishing vessel had violated the Maritime Zones of India Act 1981.