Karachi: Sixty-six Indian fishermen have been arrested for alleged illegal fishing in Pakistani waters and a court in Karachi remanded them into custody on Saturday.
The Indian fishermen along with five boats were arrested last evening for “illegally” fishing in Pakistan’s territorial waters and have been sent to jail by a judicial magistrate.
The Maritime Security Agency had arrested the fishermen and seized five boats yesterday, a spokesman for the agency said.
“The fishermen were arrested after they remained in Pakistani waters in the Arabian Sea despite warnings to move out of our territorial waters,” the spokesman said.
The arrests come just five days after the Pakistan government released 220 Indian fishermen and sent them home via Wagah border on December 26 as a goodwill gesture.
On November 20, the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency had arrested 43 Indian fishermen for entering its territorial waters.
Amin Marri, the station house officer of Docks police station, said the fishermen were booked under the Foreigner’s Act and the Fisheries Act and had now been sent to jail on court orders after being provided with clothing and food by a welfare organisation.
Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in the Arabian Sea and these fishermen do not have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location.
PTI