Police intercept pirates in Bengal

The West Bengal Police on Saturday intercepted a boat of armed men suspected to be pirates in South 24 Pargana district's Sundarban region and engaged in an exchange of fire, a senior officer said.

Police have seized the boat but the miscreants managed to flee.

"When Our team approached an unidentified boat in the coastal sea area in the Sundarban's Jharkhali at around 1 a.m. on Sarurday, the miscreants in the boat opened fire," Baruipur Superintendent of Police Arijit Sinha told IANS.

"There were around six to seven miscreants in the boat who jumped into the water and fled. We have seized the boat and recovered two fire arms and several rounds of ammunition from there," he said.

The officer said they had prior information about a group of miscreants, trying to hijack the cargo ships that travel from Bangladesh through the area.

"The miscreants might be hiding in the nearby Damalberia forest. Some of our officers are running a combing operation to find them out.

"The area is sensitive as several cargo ships from West Bengal to Bangladesh and other states travel through this water. We have increased the vigil to stop any unfavourable incidents from happening," the officer added.

--IANS

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