The Sri Lankan Navy detained nine more Indian fishermen Thursday, bringing the total arrests to 41 in two days, just a week before talks on fishing rights between the two nations, an official said here.
The second round of talks on fishing rights in the Palk Strait are to be held in Colombo March 13.
"We have handed over the fishermen and trawlers to the police. They were illegally fishing in the northern waters of Sri Lanka," Xinhua quoted navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasooriya as saying.