A Burmese ferry with passengers onboard was hijacked by a gang of Bangladeshis on the 8th of November, 2006, report local and official Burmese sources.
Around 6:30 p.m. on the day, the gang boarded the ferry at San Pae Bin Rin Village and took control of the vessel – steering it to unknown location, said local source relaying information from a Burmese official.
The ferry operates between Maungdaw and Taungbro on the Naff River, which marks the border between Burma and Bangladesh, and San Pae Bin Rin on the Naff River opposite Bangladesh’s Nila Village.
A border security official from Burma reported that a high-ranking official from the Burmese Immigration Department in Taungbro is among the kidnapped passengers – most of whom are local public officers.
Currently, a team of Burmese officers is visiting local areas, including Rakhaing villages on the Bangladesh side of the border, to investigate the hijacked ferry.
The loot from onboard the ferry is estimated to be worth about 10 million Burmese kyats.
At the time of the hijacking, troops from the San Pae Bin Rin Nasaka outpost fired some shots in an attempt to get the ferry to stop. The hijackers still managed to escape to Bangladesh.
There have been no demands for ransom money for any of the kidnapped victims
