Burma police allegedly abducted six Bangladeshi fishermen and confiscated their row boat on the Naff River on Sept. 22, according to a fisherman named Lalu.
The Teknaf native said the men have been identified as: Noor Alam, 45; son of late Nurul Hakim, Mohamed Abul, 44; son of Janal Abdin, Hamid Hossain, 35; son of the late Yousuf, Sayed Akbar, 32; son of the late Kala Meah, Korim, 33; son of Mohamed Hossain and Umar Kadir, 45. All of the men are from Zaliapara village near Teknaf.
The men’s families lodged a complaint with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sometime after the abduction took place. Only now are the BGB looking into the case of the disappearing men, according to internal sources.
Before Burma’s border guard force, the Nasaka, were abolished several months ago there were reoccurring reports of fishermen being abducted from the river. Now that a special national police force has been deployed to Arakan state the abductions are continuing.
A police aide claimed that the Bangladesh fishermen were fishing in the Burmese water territorials, and not in their country, when they were picked up.
But regardless of which side of the river the men were on a Bangladeshi fisherman that didn’t want his name used claimed that abductions like this are just another way to extort money from the men’s families.
The abducted fishermen will probably be released soon once some money is paid, claimed another anonymous fisherman from Teknaf that has personally witnessed incidents like this unfold in the past.
