The Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday arrested 34 Indian fishermen and seized seven boats near Katchatheevu island in the Palk Strait, off the coast of Tamil Nadu, a fisheries department official said. The Lankan navy officers allegedly damaged two boats by forcing them to collide and also ruined 40 fishing nets, the official told the Press Trust of India.

The latest arrests come three days after the Tamil Nadu government announced that Sri Lanka had ordered the release of 86 Indian fishermen, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in the last two months. In June this year, the Sri Lankan Navy had arrested 26 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in the Palk Strait for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters.