Teknaf, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Coastguard arrested 21-Burmese fisherman along with a motorized fishing boat in the Bay of Bengal near to Saint-Martin Island recently, Dilu, a local from Sant-Martin Island said.
According to official, they were arrested on 30th October at about 4:00 am when they crossed illegally into Bangladesh territorial waters.
The operation was led by an officer named Mohammed Rezaul Islam of the Saint-Martin Coastguard camp.
The arrested fishermen and fishing boat were brought to jetty on Sant-Martin Island by the members of Bangladesh Coastguard who detained the fishermen at the Coastguard office according to an official.
According to sources, they will be released by the Bangladesh Coastguard, if they are real fisherman and not boat-people.
When Kaladan spoke to a local fisherman over the telephone, he said that the Burmese fishermen were arrested over allegations that they were boat-people trying to go Malaysia.
He said: “Many boat-people who have been going to Malaysia have been leaving from the Saint-Martin Island and different areas of the Cox’s Bazar district.”
