It is said that three Pakistani fishing boats with 20 fishermen on board were captured off Jakhau coast of Bhuj district in the wee hours of Sunday by an Indian Coast Guard patrol boat. Nineteen of them are Bangladeshi nationals. Indian police said that the fishermen were taken to Okha town in Jamnagar district and on Monday morning handed over to Okha port for investigation, it being appointed as the official point for investigation of all foreign nationals arrested for overstepping the International Marine Border.
The three Pakistani trawlers Al Haidar, Al Khair and Rubak were spotted by Tarabai, a patrolling boat under the Porbandar Coast Guard squad off Jakhau coast in mouth of the Gulf of Kutch at 2am on Sunday. It is confirmed that Rabak (regn no 5846/B) had eight fishermen with Dil Mohammad as its captain, Al Haidar (3840/B) had six men on board with Mohammad Salim as its captain and Al Khair (14923/B) had San Masur as captain with six other men. “Of these men only one person on board Al Haidar has been identified as Pakistani national.
First hand probe revealed that the men are fishermen and nothing suspicious has been found in their possession. However, as most of them are very young and they had no fish catch despite claiming to be in the waters since the past 15 days, police are interrogating them to ascertain the authenticity of their statements.
