Mannaar police detains 6 fishermen, 1 civilian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Six fishermen from Mannar were arrested by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Naachchikkudaa seas and are being detained by Detention Order (DO). A seventh youth was arrested by Mannaar police in a search conducted in his house Wednesday when a sticker of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forest Department was found in the house, the police claimed.The fishermen are from Mannaar Thoadave’li, Joseph Vaz Nakar.

Of the six fishermen, three had gone from Mannaar to Naachchikkudaa Sea for fishing on Thursday, and were arrested by SLN Friday night. The other three had gone in search for the "missing" three, and were arrested on Naachchikudda Sea by SLN along with their boat and handed over to Mannaar police.

One of these six fishermen had only been released from one month detention with Mannar police on 2nd January 2009. He was earlier arrested in a cordon and search conducted in Mannaar Thoadave’li, Joseph Vaz Nakar.

The seventh Tamil youth held in detention by Mannaar police is a carpenter by profession and a resident of Josph Vaz Nakar, displaced from Vidahththaltheevu in Mannaar.

Mannar police arrested the above youth Wednesday in a search conducted in his house.

The LTTE Forest Department sticker found in his house during the search read ‘Let’s grow a tree in each house’, police sources said.