Piracy declines in BD maritime area as coastguards, others up vigilance

FE Team | Published: March 16, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Syful Islam The number of incidents of piracy in Bangladesh's maritime area has shown a declining trend in the recent years thanks to the heightened vigilance by law enforcement agencies and the port authorities, according to the officials concerned. In 2012, 11 such incidents took place within Bangladesh's 'off-shore-limit' areas against 14 in 2011, against 21 in 2010 and 15 in 2009. Among the Asian nations, Indonesia stands at the top where 65 sea-piracy incidents took place in 2012, 47 in 2011, some 37 in 2010, and 14 in 2009. "Now our maritime area is much safer for local and foreign ships with creditable performance by coastguards and other law enforcement agencies," Director General of the Department of Shipping Jobair Ahmad told the FE last Thursday. He said the coastguard personnel can now reach any spot of such occurrence within five minutes since they have got the required logistic support. "It's a significant success for us. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has commended our achievement about drastic reduction the piracy related incidents at sea," Mr Ahmad said. Officials have attributed the causes for improvement in the situation at the port and anchorages to the crew's heightened alertness, anti-piracy measures undertaken by the ship masters and enhanced surveillance that are carried out by law enforcers. In 2012, one piracy-related incident was reported in the Karnaphuli river, the approach to Chittagong Port, compared to three such incidents in 2008, one in 2009, three in 2010 and one in 2011. Of the incidents of sea-piracy that took place in 2012 in Bangladesh, most were less significant and in the nature of petty theft cases and small robberies. The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) also praised Bangladesh for its success in combating the piracy incidents. "In South Asia, the improvement was evident in the Arabian Sea and Bangladesh. No incident was reported in the Arabian Sea and the lowest number of incidents took place in Bangladesh in 2012 compared to the past four years," observed the seventh governing council meeting of ReCAAP ISC, held in Singapore early this month. "The ReCAAP ISC has commended the actions undertaken by the Indian and Bangladeshi authorities in their surveillance and anti-piracy efforts carried out in the area," it added. ReCAAP ISC is the first regional government-to-government agreement to promote and enhance cooperation against incidents of piracy and armed robbery in Asia. Until now, 17 states have become contracting parties to ReCAAP ISC. The council has unanimously nominated Dr Pornchai Danvivathana of Thailand as the chairperson of ReCAAP ISC and joint secretary of Ministry of shipping (MoS) of the government of Bangladesh Nasir Arif Mahmud as its vice-chairperson.