The Bangladesh Coast Guard has arrested 12 robbers along with weapons overnight on Tuesday after chasing a wooden boat for about an hour off the Chattogram seaport in the Bay of Bengal, a media officer of the force informed reporters on Tuesday.

Coast Guard Headquarters Media Officer Lieutenant Siam-ul-Haque said that through intelligence sources coastguards learnt of the presence of a group of robbers on the outer anchorage area of Chattogram seaport as they were waiting to rob foreign vessels.

Based on the information, an undercover team of the Coast Guard took positions on some boats on the outer anchorage at around 12.30am Tuesday.

About three hours later, they noticed suspicious movements of a motorised wooden boat two miles northeast. As the coastguards signaled the boat to stop, the riders tried to flee the scene.

The coastguards started chasing the boat braving high sea waves, and succeeded in capturing the vessel about an hour later.

The coastguards found 11 machetes, a shovel, a hand saw, a pliers, 12 sets of mobile phones along with the 12 alleged robbers on the seized boat.

The detained men confessed planning to raid ships on the outer anchorage of Chattogram seaport. Led by Md Akbar and Md Salahuddin, the team of robbers went to the outer anchorage area on 13 May from Chattogram’s Karnafuli area with the aim to raid ships. They have been engaged in such criminal activities for a long time, they admitted in preliminary investigation.

The robbers and their tools have been handed over to the Patenga Model Police Station for pursuing legal actions against them.