The pirates kidnapped 50 fishermen and took away six trawlers laden with fish in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday and Thursday.
Members of Raju Bahini, a gang of sea robbers, attacked and looted the fishing trawlers, fish and nets, and abducted 50 fishermen in the Bay, 45 kilometers south of Kuakata beach, sources in the Mahipur-Alipur fishing port said.
Of the abducted fishermen, there are owner of FB Tuhin Hazi Akhter Gazi and owner of FB Shushil named Shushil Majh–both members of Mahipur Fish Wholesalers Association.
Additional Police Super of Patuakhali, Azimul Haque, said they have received information about the abduction.
Meanwhile, panic gripped the localities across the coastal belt including the lowlands of the Sunderbans as the pirates so far have abducted over 500 fishermen along with dozens of fishing trawlers in the last few days.
The sea robbers shot dead a fisherman, injured eight others and kidnapped about 500 fishermen for ransom only in the last month [August]. The number of abducted fishermen this month is yet to be known, said Didar Uddin Ahmed Masum, president of the fish wholesalers’ association.
In the recent days, the overall situation has deteriorated at such extent that the security forces, particularly the members of Coast Guard, are often trading gunshots with the heavily equipped members of pirate gangs. But in most cases, the pirates remain untouched.
The pirates abducted more than hundred fishermen and looted fish, fuel oil from their trawlers in Boya and Sonadia area of the Bay on September 6.
Quoting some fishermen who escaped the abduction, Sharankhola Fishermen’s Association president Abul Hossain told newsmen that the robbers of Jahangir and Farhad Bahini attacked the fishermen who were returning to coast after night-long fishing in the sea.
