Illegal harvest of sea cucumber: 17 arrested along with diving gear

The Navy on Monday (03) apprehended 17 persons engaged in illegal harvesting of sea cucumber off Nagar Kovil and Kudairippu in Jaffna. Navy headquarters said troops recovered 3005 illegally harvested sea cucumber, diving gear and 06 dinghies.

Meanwhile, Navy Marines attached to the Naval Deployment Veththalakerni mounted a similar search operation in the dark hours on the same day and apprehended 05 more individuals with 1700 sea cucumbers in the beach area of Kudairippu. During this operation, the Navy also took into custody diving gear and 02 dinghies.

The individuals arrested during these operations are residents of Jaffna, Nagar Kovil, Wellamunai, Weerawennai, and Mannar, aged between 20 and 53. The suspects along with their belongings and the stock of sea cucumber were handed over to the Fisheries Inspectors of Jaffna and Thalayadi for legal action.