BGB has managed to secure the release of the fishermen | Photo: Collected
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has brought back 20 Bangladeshi fishermen, who had been held captive for two days by the Arakan Army, a rebel armed group in Myanmar, after mediating with the Myanmar rebels.
Lieutenant Colonel Md Mohiuddin Ahmed, commander of the Teknaf 2 Battalion of BGB, said that the Arakan Army handed over the fishermen at Shahparir Dwip jetty in Teknaf upazila around 4PM on Thursday.
BGB mediators managed to convince the rebels that the fishermen unwittingly violated Myanmar border rules while fishing in the trans-boundary river of Naf.
All the fishermen hail from Shah Porir Dwip, Sabrang union in Teknaf, he said adding that they handed over the fishermen to their respective families after verifying their identities.
They are -- Md Hasim, 30, Md Hosain, 20, Mohiuddin, 22, Enayet Ullah, 32, Abdul Shukkur, 35, Nur Hafez, 22, Md Yasin, 30, Abdur Rahim, 24, Hasan Ali, 33, Osman Goni, 30, Shah Alam, 22, Asmat Ullah, 20, Abdul Shukkur, 26, Abul Hossain, 17, Ayub Khan, 30, Nur Hossain, 22, Md Belal, 18, Salim, 27, Abdul Kader, 22, and Ibne Amin, 35.
Earlier, on Tuesday (November 5), the 20 fishermen were abducted along with their 15 boats while fishing from the area near Naikhongdia, adjacent to the estuary of the Naf River and the Bay of Bengal in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf.
This was the second incident of kidnapping of Bangladeshis by the rebels, amid an escalating civil war in Myanmar.
