Rab Smashes Forest robbers' den
14 abducted fishermen rescued after gunfight
A Rab-8 team early yesterday rescued 14 of the 200 fishermen, kidnapped a week ago, following a gunfight with robbers at Narkelbaria in Sharankhola upazila in the Sundarbans East Zone.
Maj Sabbir Rahman Osmani, deputy commander of Rab-8 (Barisal), said acting on secret information, they raided a den of forest robbers at Narkelbaria Char in the morning.
The gunfight ensued as the gang, sensing the presence of law enforcers, opened fire at the Rab team. At one stage, the robbers retreated and fled the scene.
The Rab troops then rescued the 14 fishermen along with two trawlers and recovered two shotguns from the spot.
Meanwhile, a commander of Mongla coastguard said that the members of the coastguard, Navy and Air Force and Rab were raiding the dens of the robbers.
He said a joint drive was launched yesterday noon to rescue the fishermen kidnapped by robbers in the Sundarbans East Zone last Friday to Sunday.
He further said that over 300 members of Navy and Coastguard, led by Coastguard zonal commander M Saidur Rahman, along with four ships and six speedboats and three mechanised boats were conducting the drive.
Intelligence sources said the Air Force assisted the drive with a helicopter, reports UNB.
According to the sources, the joint forces identified the dens of the forest robbers in Dublar Char, Shelar Char, Kalir Char, Pushpakathi and Jwakhali coastal areas of Sundarbans east and west zones in Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts.
The robbers of notorious Mortoza Bahini and Sagor Bahini attacked the fishermen on Aug 10-12 while they were catching hilsa in the Bay of Bengal.
The robbers later demanded a ransom of Tk 50,000 for release of each fisherman. They also threatened to kill the fishermen if their demand was not met within a week.
The kidnapped fishermen hailed from different areas of Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Barguna, Bhola and Patuakhali districts.
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