Six Indian fishermen arrested for violating maritime boundaries

KARACHI: The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Friday arrested six Indian fishermen for violating territorial waters and doing illegal fishing.

According to PSMA spokesman, a boat of the fishermen was also taken into the custody during the action taken by the PMSA’s personnel patrolling the sea border.

Arrested fishermen were handed over to docks police station after initial investigation.

On January 10, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency had arrested fifteen Indian fishermen for violating the Pakistani territorial waters and took three boats into custody.

In August last year, at least nine Pakistani fishermen were taken into custody by Indian Coast Guard after they allegedly crossed over to the Indian territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.

The crew and boat were escorted to Okha port and were handed over to local Marine Police for further investigation.

The arrests came a week after Pakistan released 26 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture before formation of the new government.

Pakistan and India routinely arrest fishermen on charges of entering each other’s waters as the maritime boundaries between the two countries were poorly defined and many fishing boats lack technologies on locating their precise places.

These arrested fishermen languish in jails of the other country often for years.