TN fishermen attacked midsea, robbed by suspected Sri Lankan pirates

Chennai, Feb 3 (IANS) Five fishermen from Arcottuthurai coastal village of Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district have been attacked and robbed off their belongings in midsea.

The fishermen, who returned to Nagapattinam on early morning hours of Saturday, narrated the trauma that took place mid-sea on Friday night and registered a complaint with Vedaranyam police station.

Fishermen in their complaint to the police said that while they were fishing in mid-sea, roughly 16 nautical miles to the southeast of the Kodiyakkarai coast, they were attacked and robbed off their belongings.

Police sources told IANS that Ponnuthurai (51) and S. Jeyachandran (40 ) from Arcottuthurai near Vedaranyam ventured into the sea in a fiberglass boat from their village on Friday afternoon.

G. Raman (51), R. Ramesh (28) and J. Sivakumar (40) from the same village, had also ventured into the sea in another fiberglass boat.

When both groups of fishermen were fishing separately about 20 nautical miles southeast of the Kodiyakkarai coast at around midnight, four persons, suspected to be Sri Lankans intercepted their fishing boats.

The suspected pirates, according to the fishermen, assaulted them and robbed them.

Police sources said that the fishermen have registered complaints that the robbers took away Global Positioning System (GPS) gadgets, a mobile phone, and a smartwatch from them.

Fishermen from Nagappatinam district have faced several mid-sea attacks and at least eight such incidents were reported between August and December last year. This however is the first such incident in 2024, police said.

The Vedaranyam Marine Police of the Coastal Security Group have begun an investigation.

R. Periaswamy, fishermen leader, told IANS: "We are being subjected to all forms of assault in the sea. The Sri Lankan Navy and suspected Sri Lankan robbers are making life miserable for us. We need strong reactions from the Centre and state governments to put an end to these attacks and robbery by the pirates and arrest by Sri Lankan Navy."

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