(COLOMBO) – A Sri Lankan court on Friday jailed three Indian fishermen after they were found guilty of poaching in the island-nation’s territorial waters earlier this month, police said.
The convicted Indian poachers were described as two boatmen and a fisherman and were sentenced to a jail term of one year for the fisherman and six months each for the two boatmen.
The court heard that the convicted Indians had been arrested on an earlier occasion as well for poaching in Sri Lankan waters.
The court however released 20 other suspected Indian poachers with a warning that they would face a jail term if they are apprehended for the same offence in future.
The poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan northern waters has remained a festering issue for many years and despite several rounds of talks between the two countries the issue remains a stalemate to date.
It is also learnt that a large number of deep-sea fishing vessels on the Indian side are owned by wealthy regional politicians in Tamil Nadu.
