28 Indian fishermen arrested by PMSA

The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Friday seized yet another five Indian fishing vessels for entering Pakistan’s territorial waters and arrested 28 crew members on board.

With these arrests, the number of Indian fishermen apprehended by the agency in operations over the past 52 days has risen to 172. According to PMSA Spokesman Commander Wajid Nawaz Chaudhry, the agency’s aircrafts and speedboats were used in the operation, conducted near Pakistan’s maritime border in the Arabian Sea.

Chaudhry said the 28 arrested fishermen had been interrogated by PMSA officials before being handed over to the Docks police for further legal action. They would now be presented before a judicial magistrate with a request for their physical remand.

Indian and Pakistani forces regularly detain each other’s fishing vessels and crews for their alleged involvement in unlawful fishing within the other side’s territorial waters.

However, there has been a sharp increase in the number of operations and, consequently, arrests and boat seizures with the start of the fishing season. As per official records, Friday’s operation was the fifth one conducted by the PMSA in a short span of 52 days.

The first was reported on November 10 in which the PMSA seized nine fishing vessels and took into custody 55 crew members. That was followed by an operation on November 12, in which four Indian fishing boats were impounded and 23 fishermen were held.

PMSA reported a third operation on November 16, in which the agency seized four Indian fishing vessels and arrested 23 crew members, all Indian nationals. Similarly on December 14, seven Indian vessels were seized and 43 crew members were taken into custody.