Sri Lanka Sends Back 19 Indian Fishermen Days After Arrests

Sri Lanka on Monday repatriated 19 Indian fishermen, days after the island nation's navy arrested 16 Indians for allegedly poaching in its territorial waters.

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka.

"19 Indian fishermen are being repatriated from Sri Lanka today and will return home by evening," the High Commission of India here said in a post on X.

19 Indian fishermen are being repatriated from Sri Lanka today and will return home by evening. @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy pic.twitter.com/6zkcbUbhgr

— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 20, 2026

According to the Sri Lanka Navy, 128 Indian fishermen have been arrested for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters so far this year.

On April 13, the Navy seized an Indian fishing boat and apprehended four Indian fishermen for alleged poaching in the sea area north of Mannar.

Two days before that, it arrested 12 Indian fishermen for the same reason off Kovilam in Kareinagar, Jaffna.

Those arrested were handed over to authorities for legal proceedings.

Lankan Navy personnel even fire at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seize their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.

Sri Lanka claims a similar attitude by Indian authorities.

The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries, who are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)