Fourteen Indian fishermen, detained for illegally entering Bangladeshi maritime territory to fish, have been sent to Bagerhat District Jail. The order was issued by Bagerhat’s Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-06 on Monday (August 4).
The detainees have been identified as Bishwanath Das (41), Anibesh Das (29), Govinda Das (50), Mohan Krishna (43), Ashanta De (45), Manik Jana (29), Ram Dulal Das (52), Shankar Das (37), Rajib Das (36), Liton Das (35), Abhiram Das (26), Badal Rajputra (52), Swadesh Chandra Das (48), and Nokul Das (58). All of them hail from India’s North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman districts, according to Mongla Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Anisur Rahman.
OC Anisur Rahman stated that the fishermen were apprehended on Saturday night (August 2) by the Bangladesh Navy from the Fairway Buoy area near Mongla Port in the Bay of Bengal.
They were onboard the Indian fishing trawler FB Parmita and were allegedly fishing illegally after crossing into Bangladesh’s exclusive economic zone.
He further added that the Navy handed over the fishermen and the trawler to Mongla Police around 3 AM on Sunday night. Subsequently, the Navy filed a case under Section 25(1) of the Marine Fisheries Act, 2020, accusing the detainees of illegal fishing within Bangladeshi waters.
This is not the first such incident. On July 14, the Bangladesh Navy had detained 34 Indian fishermen along with two trawlers from the same region under similar allegations.
