CHENNAI: As many as 21 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard returned to Chennai on Friday.

The fishermen while they were fishing on December 6, the Sri Lankan Coast Guard team surrounded them and seized their boats, and arrested all of them for crossing the border. Later on December 9, another set of 27 fishermen were arrested for crossing the border.

Later, the families requested the Chief Minister to take steps to release all the fishermen, and the government requested the Central government to take action.

Following that with the help of the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka the 21 fishermen were released from the prison on December 21 and they were handed to the Indian Embassy.

The officials arranged the travel documents for all of them, and they reached the Chennai airport on the Air India flight which arrived in the evening.

The fishermen were welcomed by the officials from the fisheries department at the airport, and they arranged transport for their native villages.