Joint coast guard operation secures fishermen release between Bangladesh and India

Within the Bangladesh territorial waters, Bangladesh Coast Guard intercepted 06 Indian fishing boats, carrying 95 fishermen, while they were illegally fishing.

These boats were identified as: 02 Coast Guard vessels (Abhijit-3 and Jhor-3) and 04 Bangladesh Navy vessels (FB Joy Jagannath-2, FB Basanti, FB Abhijit, and FB Narayan). Separately, on 12 September 2024, due to adverse weather conditions, an Indian Coast Guard vessel rescued 12 Bangladeshi fishermen from the sunken Bangladeshi fishing boat, FB Kaushik, and took them to Haldia Port in India. Additionally, on 09 December 2024, the Indian Coast Guard detained 02 Bangladeshi fishing trawlers (FB Layla-02 and FB Meghna-5), along with 78 fishermen, within the Indian territorial waters near the Bangladesh-India International Maritime Boundary Line, alleging illegal fishing.

After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiative, a decision was made to exchange the detained fishermen through a bilateral understanding. Following the directives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Bangladesh Coast Guard was entrusted with the responsibility of completing the process of handing over/receiving the detained fishermen. In continuation of this, on Sunday, 05 January 2025, under the supervision of the Bangladesh Coast Guard, at around 5 PM, 95 Indian fishermen along with 06 boats, who were detained in Bangladesh, were handed over to the Indian Coast Guard at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

Simultaneously, the Bangladesh Coast Guard received 90 Bangladeshi fishermen along with 02 boats from the Indian Coast Guard. Later, on January 7, 2025, at 10 AM, the Bangladeshi fishermen and their boats were handed over to their families at Patenga, Chattogram.