The government decided on Sunday to take legal action against customs officials responsible for issuing clearance certificate, based on fake documents, in favour of two foreign fishing vessels for entering into Bangladesh's maritime territory.
It also decided to form a committee today (Monday) to investigate into the illegal entrance of the vessels - FV Wind Sea and FV Wind View - bearing Cameroon flag.
The decisions were taken at an inter-ministerial meeting at the conference room of the ministry of fisheries and livestock (MoFL), with state minister Ashraf Ali Khan Kashru in the chair.
The vessels are now staying at the jetty of Continental Marine Fisheries in Chattogram. Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) considered the vessels illegal, unreported and unregulated.
Without scrutinising the documents, allowing the vessels into the maritime territory by the customs officials at Chittagong Port provoked an outburst of anger at the meeting.
It was observed that Intermodal Pvt Ltd, the local agent of the fishing vessels, reportedly showed false papers and provided misleading information on the plea of maintenance of the vessels.
The meeting also discussed that the papers of the fishing vessels were vastly faulty and changed the name of the port of clearance on the documents.
The Marine Fisheries Academy, the Chattogram Port Authority and the Coast Guard in their joint initial investigation did not find any technical fault of the fishing vessels. Earlier the local agent, however, informed the customs officials that the vessels need maintenance.
The fishing vessels entered into the country violating the local and international laws, the meeting observed. It also expressed dissatisfaction over the local agent that managed customs clearance through producing fake documents.
The meeting recommended the customs authority to take legal action against their officials for issuing clearance certificate based on the fake documents.
The fishing vessels anchored at the jetty on the bank of the River Karnuphuli in Chattogram on August 21 last and were scheduled to leave the jetty on August 26 for Cambodia.
State minister for fisheries and livestock Ashraf Ali Khan Kashru asked the authorities concerned to investigate into the matter seriously.
A high official of the MoFL said that vessels of any country that are not member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) cannot engage in any kind of fishing activities in the Indian Ocean.
Australia, Bangladesh, Belize, China, Comoros, Eritrea, European Union, France, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Yemen and the United Kingdom are the member states of IOTC.s
Fisheries secretary Raisul Alam Mandal, secretary (maritime affairs section) of the foreign ministry Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khorshed Alam and representatives from ministries of home affairs and shipping, river police and cost guard were present.
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