Cops thwart river pirates' attempts, seize firearms

Kolkata: The South 24 Parganas district police in the wee hours of Saturday thwarted the attempts of a gang of river pirates who were planning to hijack cargo ships plying in the Sunderbans. Though the pirate gang managed to escape taking advantage of darkness of the night and fog, the police managed to recover the boat, two firearms and two rounds of fired cartridges from the miscreants.

Police sources said that acting on some credible information, a team led by superintendent of Baruipur police Arijit Sinha travelled across the river in the darkness of the night to catch the miscreants red handed. A gun battle was fought between the police team and the river pirates at Hamalberia forest adjacent to Vidya River under Jharkhali police station area.

"As soon as the pirates saw the police team approaching, they fired two rounds and the police also retaliated. Amidst the exchange of gun shots, the pirates in the apprehension of being nabbed jumped into the river and managed to slip away into the forest under the cover of darkness and fog," a senior police official who was part of the operation said. The pirates were around six in number.

The police, however, managed to seize the boat with which they had come with the purpose of hijacking cargo ships. Two rounds of fired cartridges and two one-shotters were also recovered from the boat. "Search operations in the forest will continue," the police official added.