Pakistan apprehends 12 boats, 65 fishermen off Gujarat coast

Around 65 Indian fishermen along with their 12 boats were apprehended by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) off the Gujarat coast on Saturday, officials of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) said.

Around 65 Indian fishermen along with their 12 boats were apprehended by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) off the Gujarat coast on Saturday, officials of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) said. This is the biggest and the fourth major incident of apprehending Indian fishermen by PMSA since January this year.

Around 65 fishermen in 12 boats were apprehended by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency off the Gujarat coast.(Representative photo) (Reuters)

“PMSA personnel have apprehended around 65 fishermen and their 12 boats off Gujarat coast,” secretary of NFF Manish Lodhari told PTI.

“Those fishermen from Okha and Porbandar town of the state sailed off the coast of Gujarat four to five days ago and today they were held captive,” Lodhari said.

He said around 11 boats were from Porbandar and one was from Okha.

The NFF official said he got to know about the incident from the fishermen who were in contact with him through a wireless phone set.

“All those 65 fishermen are still in the middle of the Arabian sea and surrounded by the PMSA personnel when one of the sailors gave me this information,” Lodhari said.

In April this year, PMSA had apprehended 47 fishermen along with their eight boats from Gujarat, while in March, the Pakistani security agency had captured 48 Indian fishermen and seized eight of their boats near Jakhau port off the Gujarat coast.