Boats seized; 10 held for fishing in B'kanika

Forest personnel of the Bhitarkanika National Park on Saturday arrested and court-forwarded 10 fishermen for illegally catching fish at three different places after trespassing into the prohibited areas.

The forest personnel also seized a country boat and a couple of mechanized boats in the connections.Rajnagar Forest officials said while two fishermen of Keruapala village were catching fish illegally near Habilikhati with a country boat, the forest officers arrested them and seized the boat.

They later sized a mechanized boat, while it was catching fish in between Habalikhati and Ekakula and arrested five fishermen of Jyotiprasad village. The officials also seized another mechanized boat while it was fishing near Agarnashi and arrested three persons from there.

All the accused were remanded into jail custody as their bail pleas were rejected by the court.