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Ship rescued from armed raiders near Calcutta

Police Thursday freed a Panamanian cargo vessel and rescued its captain and a pilot of the Calcutta Port Trust from the clutches of armed raiders, hours after the miscreants seized the ship at Raichak in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

A CPT spokesman told PTI in Calcutta that police swung into action after receiving a report that the Calcutta-bound vessel coming from Yangon had been seized at around 12.30 pm.

The captain and the CPT pilot, accompanying the vessel from the sandhead, were rescued from nearby areas after the ship was freed.

The vessel, 'M V Jubilee' resumed its journey with heavy police protection and would reach the Port late Thursday night, the spokesman said.

Over 200 raiders, who came in two launches, had seized vessel which was carrying 2,290 tonnes of logs near Raichak. The captain and the pilot, who disobeyed the raiders' orders to steer the vessel to Diamond Harbour for unloading the logs, were taken away by them to an unknown destination.

South 24 Parganas Superintendent of Police D K Ganguly said the vessel was intercepted by the supporters of one Bhabesh Das, an independent candidate from Diamond Harbour assembly constituency, to press their demand for jobs for locals.

CPT sources, however, termed the police claim as "efforts to save faces." The shipping community has expressed its deep anxiety over the incident, the first of its kind in 131-year history of the port, the sources said.

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