The Coast Guard and river police have detained 26 fishermen in Chandpur for catching hilsa in defiance of the ban. Fifty kilograms of hilsa, 10,000 metres of current net and a fishing boat were seized.

The Coast Guard said the drives were carried out in various parts of the Padma and Meghna rivers in Chandpur from Wednesday night, 16 October, to Thursday afternoon, 17 October. The 26 fishermen were caught fishing on the river. A mobile court at noon sentenced 17 of them to one month in jail each. The other nine were released on bond because they were minors.

The mobile court was run by Sadar upazila nirbahi officer Shakhawat Jamil Saikat.

He said the district task force's regular drives to protect mother hilsa were continuing. Executive magistrates, river police, the Coast Guard and the fisheries department were running separate drives on the river 24 hours a day, and the 26 fishermen were arrested with evidence as part of these. Seventeen were given 30 days' simple imprisonment and the remaining nine, being minors, were released on bond. The seized fish was distributed to local orphanages and the current nets were burned.

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