Drive soon to flush out Sundarbans criminals
The home ministry has decided to launch crackdown in the Sundarbans anytime this month to arrest criminals, Islamist militants and pirates and seize illegal arms and ammunition.
A high level meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs on April 21 took the decision, said a highly placed source.
Earlier the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Environment and Forests submitted a report to the home ministry recommending immediate crackdown in the Sundarbans to contain rampant piracy, robbery and abduction of fishermen for ransom.
Officials of Sundarbans Forest Division also reported to law enforcers several incidents of killing of fishermen for failing to pay ransom.
Police, Rapid Action Battalion, coastguard and forest department have received messages from the home ministry to get ready for launching crackdown on criminals hiding in the Sundarbans and seize their arms.
Recently alarming increase in abduction of fishermen for ransom and attack on forest officials and guards by pirates in the Sundarbans has led to negative impact on fishing and local economy as well.
There is information to intelligence agencies that criminals of the south-western region are using the Sundarbans as a safe haven where they hide after implementing 'killing missions' and committing other serious crimes.
Illegal arms trade is also going on in the forest since long. Most of these arms come from India through pirates of that country, said sources of Sundarbans Forest Division. There are over a hundred hideouts of pirates in some 6,000 square kilometres area of the Sundarbans.
The crackdown is likely to begin before the rains, said Mihir Kumar, divisional forest officer of the East Wing of Sundarbans Forest Division.
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