Chennai, Oct 15 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get freed 23 fishermen from the state arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy and lodged in a jail there.

According to the Sri Lankan navy website, a fast attack craft of the 4th Fast Attack Craft Flotilla and an inshore patrol craft attached to the Northern Naval Command caught two Indian fishing vessels and arrested 23 Indian fishermen for poaching in Sri Lankan waters east off Point Pedro and Vettillaikeni on October 13.

It also mentioned that the catch of the fishermen was seized and the fishing gear which is used for trawling confiscated.

The nautical distance between India and Sri Lanka is limited to very few kilometres in the sea off Nagapattinam. Marine experts are of the opinion that due to the narrow sea, there is no room for even demarcating the International Maritime Boundary Lane, and that is why Indian fishermen cross into Sri Lankan waters and vice versa.

PMK leader, Dr S. Ramadoss also said that the Centre must intervene immediately and flayed the Modi government not condemning the arrest of the Indian fishermen. He also said that the Sri Lankan Navy should not have arrested the Indian fishermen for crossing international waters inadvertently.