Pakistani authorities detained 73 Asian and South Asian crewmembers after seizing two Indian registered fishing trawlers found plying Pakistan's waters in the Arabian sea, officials said on Sunday. The trawlers were intercepted by Maritime Security Agency (MSA) after sailing deeper into Pakistan waters, MSA's deputy director general, Captain Mohsin Mirza, told reporters. "They illegally entered and were busy fishing in our exclusive economic zone," he said.
"They will be questioned and handed over to the police for trespassing," Mirza told Reuters, adding the two trawlers were spotted by a Pakistani civilian aircraft.
He said they had a licence to fish in Indian waters but had ventured into Pakistan.
The two trawlers loaded with some 70 tonnes of Tuna fish were seized 225 kilometres south-east of Karachi, he said, adding that the detainees included 38 Filipinos, 14 Indians, 15 Chinese and six Taiwanese. The trawlers were registered in Visakhapatnam city in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Mirza said.
Last week Pakistan released hundreds of Indian fishermen caught illegally working the country's waters. Pakistani and Indian authorities frequently detain fishermen for straying into each other's territory.
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