Maritime crime in Bangladesh

ReCAAP report highlights issues in Bangladesh.

Piracy along national coast doubled in 2014

Piracy and armed robbery along Bangladesh’s coasts, especially near sea and river ports, have doubled, raising the number of incidents to 11 in 2014 from six in 2013, officials said.

The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has expressed its concern over the rise of incidents and urged Bangladesh to take steps to combat it, they added.

“The ReCAAP ISC urges the authorities to step up enforcement at Chittagong anchorages, and the masters to exercise vigilance and report all incidents to the authorities,” the regional body said in its annual report.

According to the report, of 11 incidents which occurred during the January-September period of 2014, eight occurred at Chittagong anchorages.

“In most cases, the robbers boarded the vessels in groups of 5-10, except in some cases when the robbers approached in a relatively larger group of 30 which happened in the incident involving Malta-registered bulk carrier Loyalty,” the report mentioned.

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Source: hellenicshippingnews.com

MSR Note: we should point out that piracy against merchant vessels off Bangladesh is rare; the majority of crimes are against vessels in port, although the country’s fishing fleet does suffer at the hands of local pirates in the Bay of Bengal.