Eighteen fishermen have been abducted, allegedly by members of the Myanmar armed rebel group Arakan Army, along with three trawlers from the southeast of Saint Martin’s Island in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar.
According to Mohammad Azim, president of the Fishing Trawler Owners’ Association at Saint Martin’s Jetty Ghat, the incident took place around 6pm today (31 August) when the fishermen were catching fish in an area called Seeta, southeast of Saint Martin’s. They were held at gunpoint and taken away.
The owners and boatmen of the three trawlers have been identified as Md Abshar, Abu Taher, and Md Alamgir. The fishermen were Jahangir Alam, Abdur Rahim, Md Alam, Md Sabbir, Md Taiyeb, Moni Ullah, Rahmat Ullah, Abu Bakkar Siddique, Syed Ullah, Md Rafiq, Md Taher, Abdul Matlub, Hafez Ahmed, Aminul Hossain, and Sala Uddin. Reports said all of them are residents of different villages on St Martin’s Island.
Earlier, from 5 August to 28 August, in just 23 days, trawler owners reported that 10 trawlers carrying 63 fishermen were abducted. As a result, in the last 26 days alone, the Arakan Army has abducted 81 fishermen along with 13 trawlers, whose families remain without any information about their whereabouts.
Since December last year, the Arakan Army reportedly abducted 285 Bangladeshi fishermen from different points of the Naf River and the Bay of Bengal. Of them, through efforts by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 189 fishermen and 27 vessels were returned in several phases.
No official statement has yet been received from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) or the Coast Guard regarding today’s incident.
However, on 28 August, during a press briefing at the BGB’s Ramu Sector headquarters, Sector Commander Colonel Mohammad Mohiuddin Ahmed said, “So far, 51 Bangladeshi fishermen remain hostage with the Arakan Army.
“Although they are considered a non-border factor group, BGB maintains unofficial communication with them. Discussions are ongoing regarding the abducted fishermen. We are putting pressure on them so that no more fishermen are taken away.”
