Navy arrests 14 Indian fishermen along with trawler from Bay of Bengal

The Navy has arrested 14 Indian fishermen along with a fishing trawler for illegally entering Bangladeshi waters in the Bay of Bengal and fishing. The arrested trawler was brought to Digraj Naval Base in Mongla at around 5:30 pm on Saturday (October 18). It was then handed over to the police station at night.

The arrested Indian fishermen are Chandra Das, Anand Das, Sadananda Das, Shekhar Das, Subhash Das, Moni Shankar Sikder, Bipul Das, Gauranga Das, Mrityunjay Das, Gauranga Halder, Gautam Das, Bishwajit Das, Sujan Biswas and Bijoy Das. All of them are said to be from South 24 Parganas district of Kolkata.

Mongla Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Mohammad Zahidul Islam said that the naval ship Banouja Shahid Akhter Uddin, which was patrolling the sea border, intercepted an Indian fishing trawler named 'F,B Shuvojatra' from the fairway buoy area of ​​the Bay of Bengal near Mongla port at around 11 pm on Friday. There were 14 Indian fishermen on the trawler.

They were illegally fishing in Bangladeshi waters. Their home is in the Kakdwip area of ​​South 24 Pargona district, India. The seized trawler was brought to Mongla from the fairway buoy area at 5:30 pm on Saturday by another naval ship Banouja Bishkhali.

About 10 maunds of fish of various species, including hilsa, in the Indian trawler will be brought to Mongla ferry pier at night and sold in an open auction. He also said that the money from the sale of the fish will be deposited in the government's revenue.

Mongla Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md. Anisur Rahman said that after filing a case against the Indian fishermen on charges of violating maritime boundaries and plundering fishery resources, they will be sent to jail through the Bagerhat court on Sunday morning.

It is worth noting that earlier, the Navy seized two Indian trawlers from the Fairway Buoy area on July 14 and August 3.