The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday detained nine Indian fishermen and also seized a boat from them from Tamil Nadu's Karainagar District.

The fishermen were detained while they were fishing in Karainagar, which is located 20 kms from Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Navy had earlier on Tuesday apprehended four Indian fishermen along with their boats near Palk Strait, a stretch of land between India and the island nation, for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in their territory.

Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Mahinda Amaraweera had earlier instructed the island's Navy and the Coast Guard to take tough action against the fishermen, who are using illegal fishing practices.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had last month written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action with regard to repeated arrests of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, and expressed concern over the Centre's inadequate response in the matter.

In a strongly worded letter, she said that the continuous detention of Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy is causing a deep sense of anger amongst the fishermen community, adding that their right to livelihood of fishing in their traditional waters of the Palk Bay is being infringed upon repeatedly by Sri Lanka. 

(ANI)