Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) has arrested 13 pirates and claimed seizing huge lethal weapons from the possession of pirates in a raid conducted in the deep sea area of Bay of Bengal on Sunday night. BCG has intensified raids against pirates on the waterways in the country and Bay of Bengal.
The BCG team also rescued seven abducted crews of fishing trawlers, recovered the looted two fishing trawlers from Kutubdia -Matarbari Channel of the, according to sources. Sources said, incidents of piracy and attacking on seamen in the cargo and fishing trawlers and engine boats on the sea route are increasing day by day.
Earlier, on November 11 last, the gang of armed pirates looted eight fishing trawlers on the Bay of Bengal at Cox’s Bazar. They looted the goods worth around Tk one crore from the trawlers and attacked the fishermen causing injuries to 11 fishermen at that time.
Sources said, crews, boatmen, fishermen and owners of cargo trawlers and engine boats are not safe in the water territory of Bangladesh as the pirates are attacking on them at the offshore areas on the sea. Particularly, the fishermen cannot go to the sea due to rampant incidents of attack of pirates on the fishermen. So, fishermen of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar are suffering a lot.
Sources said, the crews, boatmen and owners of cargo trawlers and engine boats are suffering due to looting goods and torturing of armed pirates. Meanwhile, BCG, BN and Water Transport Monitoring Cell (WTMC) have taken special measures to control the piracy on the river-way recently.
After rampant incidents of piracy, BCG intensified the raids on the waterway as well as the coastal areas. Officials of BCG said, “The authority intensified the patrolling on the sea and river way. One ship and two speed boats are continuing patrolling on the outer anchorage of Bay of Bengal 24 hours. Besides, several ships and speed boats were deployed at the river-way to nab the pirates.”
BCG sources said, as per directive of the higher authority, the BCG intensified the patrolling and has taken several measures to curb the piracy on sea and rivers. Besides, the BN has also intensified the patrolling in the same regard now.
Meanwhile, the government is going to strength vigilance on its water territory especially on the coastal areas and outer anchorage of Chittagong port with a view to check all shorts of piracy. The authorities including BN, BCG and WTMC and Bangladesh Cargo Trawlers Owners Association are taking special security measure to resist the piracy on the Bay of Bengal.
The government has allowed the ocean going ships to take protection from the members of BCG if they feel necessary while leaving the water territory of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Chittagong port, the prime sea port of the country is excluded the list of high risky port in the world for piracy as the authorities made the port and outer anchorage free from piracy recently.
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) declared in the yearly report of 2012 that the Chittagong the authority successfully reduced the piracy at Chittagong sea port in 2012. Following the report, nternational Maritime Berau (IMB) declared the Chittagong sea port safe for ships.
Sources said, BCG has started special operation to nab the pirates from the rive-way of Bangladesh recently. Following the operations rescued four fishermen from the pirates den after one hour long gun fight from Chaprakhali in Bagerhat on July 12. The rescued fishermen are identified as Babul Hossain (20), Md Jakir Khan (27), Md Shah Alam (35) and MD Jafar Meah (42).
