Kolkata: 88 poachers from Bangladesh were caught by the Indian Coast Guard for illegally fishing in three boats in the Indian waters of Bay of Bengal around 10-15 nautical miles inside the International Maritime Boundary Line. Around 360 kgs of fish were recovered from them.
The Indian Coast Guard (North East Regional Headquarters) said that it's ship, during routine patrol, spotted them off Bangadhuni Island close to the coast under the exclusive economic zone early on Tuesday and tried to establish contact on the very high frequency communication with them but they did not respond.
Alerted of the presence of CG ship, the Bangladeshi boats increased speed and entered shallow waters to evade. The CG ship also increased speed to intercept but could not reach close to the boats due to depth restrictions.
It shared the information with a hovercraft operating in the area to conduct a coordinated operation. The 88 poachers in the three boats were handed over to marine police at Frazerganj in South 24 Parganas on Wednesday afternoon.
