Nagai men robbed of catch, equipment in mid-sea

According to Selvakumar, Moorthy and Ravi from Pattinacherry fishing hamlet near Nagore, the incident happened when they were casting their nets off Kodiakarai coast on Thursday. “An unidentified gang surrounded us. They threatened us to move away and used abusive words.

When we hesitated to move, five persons jumped into our boat and began assaulting us. They snatched away our catch and fishing equipment,” said Selvakumar.

The fishermen claimed that the men spoke in Tamil with a Sri Lankan slang.

“We were fishing along with another team from Nagapattinam. “But, the moment the other team saw a boat, with strangers, approaching them, they left the place,” said the fishermen who were dejected that they were often being targetted by the Sri Lankan Navy and presently by the Indian Coast Guard too. “We want a permanent solution to this issue to safeguard our livelihood,” they said.