UNB, Cox’s Bazar :
Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) detained 18 Bangladesh fishermen and seized four fishing trawlers Tuesday from the Bay of Bengal near Teknaf’s Shah Porir Island.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sent a letter to its Myanmar counterpart following the incident.
BGB Battalion-2 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Sheikh Khalid Md Iftekhar said: “We hope to find a solution through discussion.”
The detainees are Md Jasim (25), Saiful Islam (23), Md Faisal (23), Abu Taher (22), Md Ismail (20), Md Ishaq (24), Abdur Rahman (24), Nur Kalam (26), Md Hossain (22), Hashmat (25), Md Akbar (23), Nazim Ullah (19), Rafiq (20), Sabbir (25), Md Helal (25), Rezaul Karim (18), Ramjan (18), and Jamal (21) from Subrang union parishad of Teknaf.
The fishermen saw a trawler, loaded with timber, sinking as they were returning home after fishing in the evening, said Abdus Salam, a member of ward-9 of the union parishad.
“BGP men stopped the fishermen and detained them at gunpoint as they had salvaged the boat and were preparing to return to the shore. They also took away the fishing trawlers.”
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Parvez Chowdhury said: “We heard about the incident. However, no one from the families of the detained fishermen has filed a complaint yet.”
