Indian Coast Guard apprehends 12 Myanmarese from Andaman Sea

Port Blair, Aug 23 (UNI) Twelve Myanmarese poachers have been apprehended by Indian Coast Guard officers and jawans from Andaman Sea.

''All the poachers apprehended by Coast Guard were later handed over to Andaman and Nicobar Police here,'' Deputy Commandant Krishna Kumar, PRO, Indian Coast Guard of A&N Region, informed today.

''From past one week, this is the second successful anti- poaching mission by the Coast Guard in Andaman&Nicobar islands,'' he sad.

Earlier in the day, an intelligence report regarding presence of poachers in dingies, off northern group of islands, was received.

The Coast Guard immediately swung into the action and an anti-poaching operation was launched.

'' The weather in that area was not conducive for a search operation. Our coast guard pilots, battling adverse weather and low visibility in area, finally succeeded in locating a dingy which started fleeing on sighting of Coast Guard,'' Dy Commandant Kumar told UNI.

He said the helicopter after firing warning shots stopped dingy near Tuft island, about 60 miles north of Port Blair.

The 12 fleeing poachers were chased and apprehended by the Coast Guard.

'' The helicopter crew also incapacitated the dingy so that it could not be utilised by the poachers further,'' he said.

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