Pirates hijacked a vessel, MV B Zaman-1, and looted 365,000 litres of furnace oil worth Tk3.28 crore from the Dhaleshwari-Shitalakkhya estuary in Munshiganj on Friday. The stolen oil belongs to Summit Group.
The ship was travelling from Narayanganj to Gazipur and was attacked around 6:30am while making a turn near Char Muktarpur, according to the ship's crew.
The pirates, posing as camel herders, boarded the ship from a trawler and held six crew members hostage, including the vessel’s master.
They confiscated their mobile phones, blindfolded them, and locked them in the engine room before taking control of the ship.
The looters siphoned the furnace oil and abandoned the vessel near Meghna Bridge around 7pm before fleeing in their trawler.
Fazal Ahmed, manager of King Fisher Shipping, which owns the ship, said: “We lost contact with the crew early in the morning and alerted law enforcement. The ship's location was identified by tracking their phones. The pirates fled before the police arrived in the evening. Naval police and BIWTA officials later rescued the trapped workers.”
Saijul Islam, the ship’s master, told reporters: “We left Summit Power’s depot in Narayanganj around 6am to deliver furnace oil to Summit’s Gazipur centre. About six masked men armed with weapons, including large blades, boarded the ship and overpowered us. They repeatedly used the code word 'Pomegranate' during the attack.”
Lutfar Rahman, in-charge of Muktarpur Naval Police Outpost, confirmed that a case is being filed at Munshiganj Sadar Police Station.
“The Coast Guard inspected the vessel, and efforts are underway to apprehend the robbers. However, it remains unclear where the stolen furnace oil was taken,” he added.