Coast Guard arrests 14 Pakistani fishermen off Gujarat coast

Ahmedabad: Coast Guard on Wednesday chased a Pakistani fishing boat that had intruded into Indian waters and arrested 14 fishermen on board near Mitha Port off the Gujarat coast. [caption id=“attachment_1758521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The force apprehended fishing boat ‘Gulsamal’ and arrested 14 crew, including a Master, all of them Pakistani nationals, at 34 nautical miles West of Mitha port inside Indian waters for violation of Maritime Zones of India Act 1981, the Coast Guard said in a statement. While operating in Indian waters and on sighting the Coast Guard Ship, the Pakistani fishing boat removed the nets and tried to flee, the statement said. The ICG ship challenged the Pakistani boat and fired five warning shots in the air to stop it before intercepting it six nautical miles away in a “hot pursuit”. “Subsequently, the Coast Guard boarded the Pakistani boat, Gulsamal, and carried out a thorough investigation and rummaging. Thereafter, the boarding party apprehended 14 crew members and seized the boat,” it said. The ICGS ‘Meera Behn’ along with the Pakistani boat will enter Okha port tomorrow where the Pakistani crew will be handed over to Marine Police for further investigations. As per the procedure, the joint interrogation will be done by various agencies responsible for coastal security including the Coast Guard, Indian Navy, Customs, Marine Police, Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB) and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) along with the port authorities to rule out any security breach, the statement said. “Over a past few days, a large number of Indian fishing boats have been apprehended by Pakistani security agencies. Analysing the trend of apprehending the Indian fishing boats by Pakistani Agencies, Indian Coast Guard has intensified patrolling on the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) shared with Pakistan,” it said. Earlier this month, Coast Guard Ship ‘Vijit’ had seized a Pakistan fishing boat ‘Al-Rahimoo’ in the same area. PTI