SLN arrests four Valvettithurai fishermen

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 17:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Friday arrested four Tamil fishermen of Athikoviladi, Valvettithurai in Jaffna district when they had gone to the sea in search of missing fishing gear. The Palaly Military Headquarters has informed the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission monitors in Jaffna later Friday evening that the fishermen in custody would be produced in Mallakam court Saturday, fisheries sources said.

The fishermen in naval custody have been identified as Mr.Thangalingam Puvaneswaran, Mr. Thangalingam Sritharan and their associates Mr. Puvaneswaran Chandramohan and Mr.K.Haridas.

Six fishermen, four in one boat and two in another boat Friday left to sea from Athikoviladi in Valvettithurai area in search of lost fishing gear. The SLN soldiers patrolling the sea at that time had arrested the four persons in one boat and allowed the other boat with two fishermen to return to the shore, fisheries sources said.

Fisheries societies of the area brought this incident to the notice of the SLMM who in turn contacted the Palaly military headquarters. Palaly military authorities had told the SLMM that the arrested four fishermen would be produced in Mallakam courts on Saturday, fisheries sources said.