B’desh launches massive hunt for pirates
17 Aug 2012 7:53 AM IST
Bangladesh deployed naval warships and air force fighters kept a vigil in the skies as the nation launched a massive clampdown on the world’s largest mangrove forest in Sundarbans to hunt down pirates holding 50 fishermen for ransom.
‘Air force helicopters were engaged to track down pirates locations as navy, coastguard and (elite anticrime) Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) boats are scouring the channels that criss-crossed the Sundarbans and the adjoining coastlines,’ a military spokesman told PTI.
A RAB official, meanwhile, told reporters at the southwestern Khulna that the pirates were forced to leave behind 14 abducted fishermen following a brief gunfight with the elite troops earlier on Thursday.
‘They fled their makeshift hideouts at remote Narkelbari area in the eastern part of the Sundarbans after a brief gunfight as we located their den there... we rescued 14 of the abducted fishermen as they were kept hostage there,’ RAB’s Lieutenant Syed Mohammad Sarfaraj Obaid said.
Four pirate gangs jointly launched a simultaneous attack on the 100 boats extracting Hilsha in the sea and took away seven boats with 50 fishermen onboard last week prompting authorities to order a joint security clampdown.
Officials earlier said navy engaged three of their ships and the coastguard mobilized several of its high-speed boats to track down the pirates.
‘Air force helicopters were engaged to track down pirates locations as navy, coastguard and (elite anticrime) Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) boats are scouring the channels that criss-crossed the Sundarbans and the adjoining coastlines,’ a military spokesman told PTI.
A RAB official, meanwhile, told reporters at the southwestern Khulna that the pirates were forced to leave behind 14 abducted fishermen following a brief gunfight with the elite troops earlier on Thursday.
‘They fled their makeshift hideouts at remote Narkelbari area in the eastern part of the Sundarbans after a brief gunfight as we located their den there... we rescued 14 of the abducted fishermen as they were kept hostage there,’ RAB’s Lieutenant Syed Mohammad Sarfaraj Obaid said.
Four pirate gangs jointly launched a simultaneous attack on the 100 boats extracting Hilsha in the sea and took away seven boats with 50 fishermen onboard last week prompting authorities to order a joint security clampdown.
Officials earlier said navy engaged three of their ships and the coastguard mobilized several of its high-speed boats to track down the pirates.
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