Islamabad: Thirty-two Indian fishermen have been taken into custody by the Pakistan Navy on charges of having strayed into the Pakistan waters for fishing off the Karachi coast.

The fishermen were detained along with their seven boats by a patrol of the Maritime Time Security agency some 125 km South East of Karachi on March 7, and were produced before a local court on March 8, reports from Karachi said.

With the latest arrests, the number of Indian fishermen in Pakistani custody has exceeded 150.

Recently, Pakistan had released 281 fishermen out of the nearly 400 in its custody.

Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat, get caught at frequent intervals due to the short distance between the sea waters of Karachi and Gujarat.

There have been instances of Pakistani fishermen having been caught by the Indian coast guard for crossing over into Indian waters as well.

PTI