Bangladesh Coast Guard has recovered a huge volume of goods looted from a Liberian flag carrier vessel at Mongla port on 24 November.
A group of pirates on Tuesday (22 November) night boarded the ship namely AS Elenia which was anchored at the outer bar of the Mongla port. The robbers took away huge volumes of paints, machinery, ropes, gas cylinders, etc from the ship in two small boats by breaking the locker room.
Lieutenant Commander Khandaker Munif Taki, media officer of the Coast Guard, said the coast guard personnel could recover the goods from the Kanainagar area of the Passur River alongside the weapons the pirates used during the robbery.
However, the robbers could not be nabbed so far as they left diving into the water and law enforcers are continuing the efforts for the same.
The vessel was carrying 31,000 tonnes of fertiliser for the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation brought from the Al-Ruwais Port of Qatar.
Meantime, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) in its latest weekly report expressed grave concern over rising ship robbery in Asian water, especially, after three incidents were reported at Singapore Strait (SS) between 19 and 21 November.
Of the three incidents, two cases occurred on board barges towed by tug boats off Tanjung Piai, Malaysia while underway in the westbound lane of Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the SS and one incident occurred on board a bulk carrier while underway in the eastbound lane of TSS in the SS.
In the three incidents a total of 28 perpetrators, boarding in eight small boats, tried to take away valuables from the ships.
With the three incidents, a total of 48 incidents were reported in the SS since January 2022.
An incident alert was issued on 21 November to advise all ships to intensify vigilance when transiting the area, and urge littoral States to increase patrols and enforcement, ReCAAP noted.
Data shows that this year until 25 November 70 actual incidents and three attempted incidents occurred in Asian waters compared to 77 actual incidents and five attempted incidents in the entire 2021.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
