All the five fishermen from Sri Lanka, who were detained by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Saturday, would be produced before a special court in Ramanathapuram district on Monday and subsequently taken to Puzhal Prisons for judicial custody, said police here on Sunday.
After the Coast Guard team, which was on surveillance duty on ICG Shaurya, spotted a boat registered in Sri Lanka fishing about 90 nautical miles south east of Kanniyakumari on Saturday, brought them to the shores for interrogation here in the afternoon.
Senior officers from Central and State agencies, including the Q Branch, conducted a probe independently at Tharuvaikulam . According to an officer, the five fishermen claimed that heavy wind pushed them into the Indian waters and they were innocent.
The fishermen had 270 kg of fish stored in the boat, which was seized after interrogation. According to the Coast Guard police, the SL fishermen, whose names were given as Marcus Jude, Antony Nishantan, Immanuel Nixon, Sudesh Syan and Dravunda Sirila, had trespassed into Indian waters. They would be produced before a special court in Ramanathapuram district on Monday and jailed in Puzhal Prisons, Chennai.