The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 17 fishermen 11 from Rameswaram and Mandapam and six from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai district for trespassing into Sri Lankan waters. It has also seized three mechanised boats. The fishermen were fishing on the high seas near the Delft island when naval personnel in fast gun boats’ arrested them. While six fishermen from Pudukottai district were arrested on Monday evening, 11 fishermen from Ramanathapuram district were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday. A calculated move’ The fishermen were handed over to Fisheries Department officials for further action. They were produced before a magistrate court in Kayts for judicial remand, said U. Arulanandam, president of the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF). Condemning the arrest, fishermen leader P. Sesu Raja said the arrest, ahead of Deepavali, was a calculated move on the part of the Sri Lankan Navy to harass the hapless fishermen. After striking work for more than two weeks in protest at the hike in diesel price, the fishermen had gone for fishing to make some money during the festival season. But the Sri Lankan Navy arrested them, he rued.