Trawlers off Kochi selling diesel to LTTE agents

As the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army is escalating, reports have surfaced about Indian fishing trawlers off Kochi coast making the best out of the war by selling diesel to the LTTE agents at the mid sea for exorbitant rates.

With the war assuming huge proportion, the LTTE has been left with no other choice but to aggressively scout for fuel to power their defence and supply vehicles.

An official of the coastal base station in Kochi, which undertakes patrolling up to 12 nautical miles off coast, said they had come across fishing boats fitted with additional overhead tanks filled with diesel.

"The overhead tanks, mainly used to store fresh water, had concealed compartments to carry additional quantity of diesel. Above all, the boats fill their tanks beyond the required capacity for the journey. As of now, there is no legal framework to restrict the boats from carrying additional quantity of diesel," the official said.

He said though the patrolling team had impounded various boats, they get away saying that they required more fuel to be in sea for more number of days.

"A mechanism should be in place to check the quantity of diesel consumed by the boats, other wise they will keep on illegally selling the government-subsidised diesel to third parties," he said adding that the majority of the crew in the fishing boats were from Tamil Nadu.

Confirming that there were certain reports of diesel pilferage at the mid sea by the fishermen to the LTTE, an official of the Fisheries Enforcement Department said their duty was very much confined to checking the registration of the trawlers.

"Our job is to assist the Fisheries Department and make sure that the trawlers confined to rules and regulations laid down by the Fisheries Department," he added. Fisheries Department deputy director K L Raveendran said the government provided a subsidy of Rs 1.50 per litre for diesel for the fishing boats and it was limited to a maximum of Rs 1,500 per month for a trawler.

"We have limited the subsidy to ensure that no fishing boats misuse it," he said.

However, Coast Guard (DIG) Vijay Chafekar said they had so far not received any information in this regard.

"Neither the Kerala Marines nor the Fisheries Enforcement have apprised us of the developments. We will conduct an investigation into the incident once we get the details in writing from the departments concerned."