Pakistan on Wednesday arrested 18 Indian fishermen and seized three of their boats that strayed inside its territorial waters off the Arabian Sea.

"The Indian fishermen had strayed too much into our exclusive economic zone east of our coastline and we had to arrest them in these circumstances," Ateeq-ur-Rehman, an official of the Pakistan Maritime security, said.

Rehman said the arrested Indian fishermen would be produced in court by the police and sent to jail.

"In this particular case, they had come too much into our territorial waters and were not able to return despite warnings."

Pakistan released around 180 Indian civilians -- most of them fishermen -- in December and January as part of the ongoing peace process between both the countries.