Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu): At least 12 fishermen were arrested by the Maldivian Coast Guard while fishing in the deep sea, officials said. They were arrested on October 23 while fishing, they said. The families of the detained fishermen have been informed. The arrested fishermen identified as Vignesh, Udayakumar, Michaelraj, Selvasekaran, Anthony Christopher, Paraloka Draviyam, Anbu, Adinarayanan, Mahesh Kumar, Madesh Kumar, Mani, and Shakti went fishing in the boats of one Micheal Pakyaraj.
The officials further stated that the Coast Guards have also confiscated the boats of the fishermen. In the meantime, the local fishermen community from Thiruvankulam appealed to the government for the immediate release of their fellow fishermen. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu's BJP President K Annamalai has written a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar requesting his intervention to facilitate the early repatriation of the 12 arrested Tamil fishermen held by the Maldivian Coast Guard.