5 SL fishermen held in sea off Rameswaram

The police said a helicopter from INS Parundu, the Indian Naval Air Station at Uchipuli, near Rameswaram, during a surveillance sortie, spotted a fiberglass boat with five men aboard, straying into Indian territorial waters suspiciously.

On being alerted by the surveillance helicopter, the Indian Navy detained and brought them to Dhanushkodi along with the boat.Later, they were handed over to the Coastal Security Group (CSG) of Tamil Nadu Marine Police for further legal action.Preliminary investigations revealed that all the five men hailed from Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankans were being questioned by the Central Intelligence agencies and Tamil Nadu Q branch police to find out whether they had inadvertently crossed the IMBL while fishing or attempting to smuggle any contraband from the island nation.