8 fishermen abducted from Sundarbans
Fishing nets, fish and crabs worth Tk one lakh looted
Robbers kidnapped eight fishermen for ransom from Harmal Canal in the eastern part of the Sundarbans under Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district on Friday.
Four of them were identified as Khairul Islam, Abdur Rahim, Sarwar Hossain and Shafiqul Islam. They all hail from Rajapur village under Sharankhola upazila. Identity of the rest four could not be known as of 5:00pm yesterday
Golam Rabbani, deputy ranger of the Sundarbans Forest Division, said a gang of robbers belonging to infamous Shohag 'Bahini' picked up the fishermen at gunpoint while they were fishing in the canal at noon.
The gang looted valuables, including fishing nets, fish and crabs worth about Tk one lakh, from the fishermen and demanded a ransom of Tk 50,000 for each of the fishermen, he added.
The deputy ranger further said the kidnappers threatened to kill all the eight fishermen in case of their failure to pay ransom by Wednesday.
Contacted Divisional Forest Officer (DFO east) Mihir Kumar yesterday said coastguards were informed of the incident on Friday evening.
Lt M Hasanuzzaman, staff officer (operation) of coastguards Mongla west zone, said they have launched drives in the coastal areas to rescue the fishermen and arrest the robbers, according to UNB.
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