The government will launch a special combing operation  in 17 districts of the country from January 4  to remove illegal nets which cause harm to fishery resources. The drive will be conducted against all illegal nets including ‘Behundi nets’ (conical-shaped net) to protect fries of all marine fish including Hilsha,  said the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on Thursday. The 17 districts where the drives will be conducted are Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola, Barishal, Noakhali, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Munshiganj, Laxmipur, Shariatpur, Madaripur, and Chandpur. Read more: Six held for illegally netting fish in Sundarbans Seventeen monitoring teams comprising of officers and field officers of the Fisheries Department will work to conduct the operations in these districts. Also a control room will be opened to collect regular data about these drives. The ministry has urged people involved in fishing to avoid use of harmful, illegal nets like current net and behundi net. 

Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) on Friday claimed that they have seized 32,000 yaba pills and contraband current nets worth Tk 105 Crore from the Bay near St Martin's island in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar.  Coast Guard Headquarters Media Officer Lt Commander Khandaker Munif Taqi said BCG Station at Teknaf conducted special simultaneous drives in the Bay of Bengal area adjacent to Cheradwip in St Martin on Thursday night. During the drive led by Station Commander Lieutenant Commander Ashiq Ahmed, a boat was seen entering the Bangladesh territory from the border of Myanmar. Coast Guard members signaled the boat to stop as its movements seemed suspicious. Sensing the presence of the Coast Guard, the boat dropped a few plastic sacks into the sea water and quickly fled to the Myanmar border. Read: Drug peddler held with 1 lakh yaba pills in Cox’s Bazar The bag was later searched and 32,000 pieces of yaba tablets and 47,60,000 metre long  current nets worth Tk 17.62 were seized in an abandoned condition.  The seized yaba tablets and current nets were handed over to Teknaf Model Police Station for further legal action, said the official.