Iran seizes foreign boats with 17 Indians

Dubai, Jul 5 (PTI) Iran has seized four fishing boats
from Saudi Arabia with 17 Indian crew on board in Persian Gulf
waters near its first nuclear power plant.

"The boats were from Saudi Arabia and had 17 Indian
nationals on board," said Iranian news reports quoting the
police commander of Iran's Bushehr province Thursday.

"Bushehr sea-guard patrols stopped four foreign
fishing boats on the strength of border violation and illegal
fishing on Iranian waters," Reza Mohmmadi-Yeganeh told
reporters.

The documents of the boats were confiscated and the
vessels are being held in Bushehr's naval police headquarters
in southern Iran, he added.

The boats were seized around 30 nautical miles from
the Bushehr nuclear plant, off Iran's coast - which is being
completed by a Russian firm and is due to go online later this
year.

In June 2007 Iran arrested the crew of three Emirati
boats it had seized for illegal entry and fishing on its
territorial waters in the Gulf.

In March 2007, Iranian naval forces seized 15 British
sailors and marines in the Gulf claiming they had entered
Iran's territorial waters but Britain insisted they had been
engaged in anti-smuggling operations in Iraqi waters.

The group was freed after two weeks in captivity. PTI