The district administration's joint task force has detained 36 fishermen in the Chandpur river zone for catching mother hilsa. They were held in drives on different stretches of the Padma and Meghna over the past 24 hours.

During the drives 5,46,000 metres of net, 290 kg of hilsa and 14 boats were seized. Of the 36 fishermen, 23 were given jail terms of different lengths and two were fined Tk 10,000. The rest, being minors, were handed over to their families on bonds.

The special drive on the Padma and Meghna was led by Syed Moshfiqur Rahman, superintendent of police of the Chandpur river police region.

Six people were detained while fishing from boats in the Meghna near Anandabazar in Chandpur: Md Sagar Bepari (28), Md Sharif Hossain (26), Md Al Amin (26), Mithun Mallik (22), Md Nayeem Kurali (14) and Md Yasin Khan (16). Some 3,100 metres of current net and a boat were seized from them. Three cases were filed under section 5(1)/5(2)(kha) of the fisheries act.

In the Mohanpur river area of Matlab Uttar police station, three more were detained while fishing: Joydeb (30), Sukumar Barman (25) and Bikash Barman (30). Some 1,200 metres of current net and a boat were seized from them, and a case was filed under the same section of the fisheries act.

Present during the drive were Imtiaz Ahmed, assistant superintendent of police of the Chandpur river zone, AKM Iqbal, officer-in-charge of Chandpur river police station, Zahir Uddin, in charge of the Mohanpur river police outpost, and other river police members.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.