At least 26 trawlers have been robbed in the Sonarchar Chhoybam area in the Bay of Bengal, 60 nautical miles away from Kuakata.
The robbers looted around 100 hilsha fishes from the trawlers and sank another trawler named FB Bhai Bhai during an hour-long attack around 12am on Friday night.
Later, the fishermen of a trawler called Mayer Doa rescued the fishermen of the sunken trawler.
Shafi Mia, owner of FB Bhai Bhai trawler, said that robbers sank his trawler when he tried to prevent them from looting the hilsha fish.
Mohammad Arif, contingent commander of Nizampur Coast Guard of Kalapara upazila, said a Coast Guard patrol was deployed in the sea to prevent any untoward incident.
“On Thursday, seven more trawlers in Mohipur and five more in Patharghata area were also robbed, which was unexpected,” said Didaruddin Ahmed Masum, president of Alipur and Mahipur Fisheries Cooperative Association.
Meanwhile, a number of fish traders in Mohipur and Alipur areas said that, when the ban on hilsha fishing was removed after 65 days, mass robbery started in the sea.
They claimed that hundreds of fishermen will stop fishing if the concerned administration does not look into the matter.
On the other hand, a survey of the fish traders also revealed that, due to robbery and ransom demands, about 450 fishermen left this profession in the last eight years.
