Chennai: Six of the nine fishermen detained in Iran after straying into Iranian maritime boundary returned on Monday.
The six men identified as Sathish, Alex Pandian, Boominathan, Balakumar, Duraimurugan from Ramanathapuram and Mebilton from Tirunelveli were released and returned to Chennai on Monday morning.
They, along with their Arab employer had been taken into custody by the Iranian coast guard on September 1, 2018, for allegedly straying into Iranian maritime boundary.
The employer, an Arab, tried to explain that they were still in Dubai waters but the Iranian coast guard personnel detained them at gunpoint.
Complicating the matter, the coast guard did not produce them before any Iranian authorities but held them captive in the detained boat itself.
They did not have any essential supplies and had struggled a lot, a representative of the National Domestic Workers Movement said. The NGO had helped the fishermen return when neither the state nor central government involved.
The fishermen had to give '27,000 as ransom to leave. The government did not help with that either. The family of the fishermen had to give it, they said. The Indian Embassy in Iran also did not assist in the case.
